Broadcom’s pricing changes have put you in a tough spot. VMware costs just jumped by 10x or more for some customers. That AT&T quote with a 1,050% increase? That’s not an outlier. That’s the new reality. The pressure to migrate is real.
This guide is part of our comprehensive look at the VMware exodus, where we explore why companies are leaving and what comes next. But here’s what’s happening out there: organisations are rushing the transition and forgetting that VMware isn’t just a hypervisor you swap out. It’s your entire IT operating model. It’s wrapped up with your security controls, your compliance certifications, and years of operational patterns your team has built around the platform.
The consequences of rushing show up fast. Research from Cybernews found that many Proxmox installations are running significantly out of date. Only a small percentage of users are keeping up with patches after migrating. These aren’t small security gaps—when systems hit end-of-life, the entire operating system stops getting updates. Every vulnerability is wide open.
This article walks through the security and compliance framework you need to balance urgency with risk mitigation. You’ll get actionable checklists for maintaining SOC2, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS compliance while transitioning platforms. Plus a realistic timeline that prevents the 12-24 month security debt cleanup that rushed migrations create. For comprehensive execution guidance, see our migration planning framework.
What are the security risks of rushing a VMware migration?
The biggest risk is simple: teams prioritise getting workloads running on the new platform over establishing the patch management lifecycle. You migrate. Everything works. And then… nothing. No update procedures. No security monitoring configured. No patching schedule established.
Without proper patch management, your production infrastructure sits undefended. Security control mapping gets skipped entirely. VMware NSX provides distributed firewalls and micro-segmentation that most alternatives don’t include natively. You had network segmentation policies, access controls, and security automation built around VMware’s integrated platform. Where do those controls go on Proxmox or XCP-ng? If you can’t answer that question before migration, you’ve created protection gaps.
Compliance documentation falls through the cracks. Your SOC2 or HIPAA auditor doesn’t care that the new platform works—they need proof that security controls remained effective during the entire transition. Without continuous monitoring logs, security testing results, and change management records showing security review approval for each phase, you’re looking at certification suspension.
Gartner analyst Paul Delory states there is no like-for-like replacement for VMware’s hypervisor on the market. Migration requires rebuilding your security architecture from scratch. This isn’t a simple infrastructure swap. Rushed migrations treat it that way. They discover the security gaps only after production cutover.
The pattern is consistent: migrate fast, patch later, deal with audit failures and security incidents as they come. Except 57% of data breaches happen because someone exploited a known vulnerability that hadn’t been patched. And the average breach costs $4.4 million. That’s significantly more than the VMware licensing savings that motivated the migration.
How do you maintain compliance during a hypervisor migration?
Your compliance framework—whether SOC2, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS—requires continuous security control effectiveness. Not just operational continuity. The old platform and the new platform both need to maintain every required control during the transition period.
Create a compliance parallel run that lasts 30-90 days post-cutover. Both platforms operate with full security controls during this period. This gives auditors evidence that your controls never lapsed. It also provides rollback capability if security issues emerge on the new platform.
Document the security controls mapping before you migrate anything. You need a matrix showing: VMware security control, which compliance requirement needs it, the alternative platform control that replaces it, validation method, and responsible team. Every mechanism needs an entry—vCenter access controls, ESXi hardening, NSX firewall rules, network segmentation, patch management, security monitoring, backup encryption, vulnerability scanning.
Engage your auditor early. Show them your migration plan, the controls mapping, and your validation methodology before you start. They’ll tell you what evidence they need to see. Waiting until annual audit time to mention you migrated your entire infrastructure is how organisations lose certifications.
The compliance requirements differ significantly by framework. HIPAA needs proof that encryption at rest and in transit never lapsed, plus updated risk analysis documentation. PCI-DSS requires network diagrams showing that segmentation remained intact throughout migration. SOC2 demands evidence that you tested control effectiveness on the new platform before moving production data.
Maintain detailed audit trails. Every security decision. Every test result. Every validation activity gets documented. Your auditor needs to see that security controls functioned continuously—not just that the final state meets requirements. The gap between “we think the controls work” and “we have proof the controls worked every day during migration” is the difference between passing and failing audit.
What happens to network segmentation when migrating from VMware NSX?
VMware NSX is where migrations get expensive. Type 2 customers built their IT operating model on VMware’s Software Defined Data Centre. NSX handles network virtualisation and micro-segmentation. You’re not just moving VMs—you’re recreating an entire network security architecture.
NSX provides distributed firewalls that run on every hypervisor. They enforce security policies right at the VM level. Most alternative platforms don’t have this natively. You’re rebuilding network security using physical firewalls, VLAN segmentation, host-based firewalls, and possibly third-party SDN solutions.
Zero trust implementations rely on NSX’s distributed firewall for micro-segmentation. Every workload gets its own network isolation enforced in software. How do you recreate this on Proxmox? You don’t. At least not with built-in features. Proxmox supports Linux Bridges, VLAN tagging, VXLAN, and Open vSwitch for complex topologies, but you’re configuring these manually. NSX gives you centralised policy management. Proxmox doesn’t.
The transition window creates a security gap where old NSX policies expire before new controls achieve equivalent protection. Your migration plan needs explicit steps: temporary firewall rules, additional monitoring, restricted access until permanent controls validate.
Alternative approaches exist. Open-source options like OVN or Calico provide some SDN capabilities. Commercial solutions like Cisco ACI or Juniper Contrail offer enterprise features. Traditional VLAN segmentation works but loses NSX’s granular policy control.
Recreating full NSX functionality often costs more than the VMware licensing savings. Make strategic decisions about which security features are genuinely needed versus which are legacy patterns you can simplify. But that evaluation needs to happen before migration. Your security team should be leading the assessment.
How does patching lifecycle differ between VMware and alternative platforms?
VMware Update Manager integrated patching into vCenter. You scheduled updates. You tested them. You rolled them out. You rolled them back if needed—all through one interface with automated orchestration and built-in validation.
Proxmox and XCP-ng use standard Linux package management. You’re working with apt or yum. You’re creating your own testing procedures. You’re building your own automation for applying updates across hosts. You’re establishing your own rollback procedures. Everything VMware’s enterprise tooling did automatically, you now do manually or build yourself.
The patch cadence changes completely. VMware released quarterly patches on a predictable schedule. Linux security updates arrive daily. You need filtering and prioritisation procedures to determine which patches apply immediately versus which wait for maintenance windows.
The mistake organisations make is assuming updates “just happen” like they did in vCenter. They don’t. You need to establish patch testing procedures, deployment automation, scheduling, rollback procedures, and vulnerability monitoring. Start with comprehensive inventory—every device, every OS version, every application. Segment systems by risk and priority. Create testing environments isolated from production. Build automation using Ansible, Puppet, or scripts that handle deployment consistently.
What security documentation is required for compliance audits during migration?
Start with a pre-migration security assessment documenting your current VMware security controls and how they map to compliance requirements. Your auditor needs the baseline—what was in place before migration.
Create a migration security plan showing how each security control transfers to the new platform. Include validation criteria someone can execute and document.
Maintain continuous monitoring logs throughout the entire migration period. Your auditor wants proof that security controls remained effective during transition. Not just evidence of the final state. Log authentication attempts, access control decisions, network traffic patterns, and security events from both platforms.
Produce security testing results from the new platform before moving production workloads. Vulnerability scans. Penetration testing. Configuration audits. Whatever testing you did on VMware, replicate on the alternative platform.
Document every change through your change management process. Security review and approval for each migration phase.
Industry-specific requirements add documentation. HIPAA demands updated risk analysis. PCI-DSS needs network diagrams proving segmentation remained intact. SOC2 requires control testing evidence before production cutover.
The documentation strategy is simple: assume your auditor knows nothing about your migration. Build a paper trail proving security controls worked continuously from start to finish.
How long should a secure VMware migration take?
A realistic secure migration timeline runs 6-12 months. Organisations pushing to complete in under 90 days often create security control gaps and compliance failures.
The phased approach reduces risk through validation gates. Proper migration planning includes a pilot phase (4-6 weeks) to move non-production workloads and validate procedures, a limited production phase (8-12 weeks) to migrate low-risk applications whilst building team confidence, and a full production phase (12-16 weeks) to complete migration with proven procedures.
Compliance parallel run needs 30-90 days of dual platform operation after production cutover. Both environments maintain full security controls while you collect evidence for auditors.
VMware NSX replacement alone typically needs 8-16 weeks. You’re not swapping configurations—you’re rebuilding network security architecture and validating it works before trusting it with production traffic.
Timeline variables include application complexity, compliance requirements, team experience with the alternative platform, and NSX integration depth.
The business pressure is real—those licensing costs hurt. But rushed migration security failures cost more than the licensing savings. Delaying 3-6 months for proper security planning prevents 12-24 months of security debt cleanup and potential breach costs averaging $4.4 million.
FAQ Section
Can I maintain my SOC2 certification while migrating from VMware?
Yes. SOC2 certification remains valid during migration if you maintain continuous security control effectiveness and document the transition. Engage your auditor early with your migration plan. Create a security controls mapping showing equivalence on the new platform. Maintain audit trails proving controls functioned throughout the transition period. Most organisations maintain a 30-90 day parallel run where both platforms operate with full controls to provide evidence for auditors.
What security controls must stay in place during the transition?
All security controls required by your compliance framework must remain continuously effective: access controls (authentication, authorisation), encryption (data at rest and in transit), network segmentation, security monitoring and logging, patch management, vulnerability scanning, backup and recovery, and incident response capabilities. Create a security controls mapping matrix showing how each VMware security mechanism transfers to an equivalent or superior control on the new platform.
Should I involve my security team in the VMware migration project?
Absolutely. Security teams must participate from initial planning through post-migration validation. They should lead the security risk assessment. Create the security controls mapping. Validate network security architecture design. Establish patch management procedures. Configure security monitoring. Document compliance evidence for auditors. Many rushed migrations fail because security teams only get involved after functional cutover when control gaps have already been created.
Is Proxmox as secure as VMware for production workloads?
Proxmox can be equally secure when properly configured and maintained. But it lacks VMware’s enterprise security tooling out of the box. VMware provides integrated patch management, network security (NSX), and security hardening guidance. Proxmox requires you to build these capabilities using Linux tools and third-party solutions. The platform isn’t inherently less secure, but it demands more security operational maturity.
What happens if I rush my migration without proper security planning?
Rushed migrations typically create three failures: unpatched vulnerabilities from missing patch management lifecycle establishment, security control gaps where VMware features lack equivalent replacements, and compliance certification jeopardy from inadequate audit documentation. Real-world consequences include failed compliance audits requiring expensive recertification, security breaches exploiting unpatched systems, and 12-24 months of security debt cleanup work. The 3-6 months invested in proper security planning prevents years of remediation.
How do I replace VMware NSX security features on alternative platforms?
VMware NSX replacement requires a multi-layered approach: distributed firewall capabilities can be replaced with host-based firewalls (iptables, firewalld) plus centralised management tools (Ansible, Puppet), micro-segmentation can be achieved through VLAN isolation and policy-based routing, and network virtualisation may require third-party SDN solutions (OVN, Calico) or simplified traditional network architecture. Many organisations discover that recreating full NSX functionality costs more than VMware licensing savings. This requires strategic decisions about which security features are genuinely needed.
Do I need to maintain dual compliance during the migration?
Yes. Maintain security controls on both old and new platforms during the transition period (typically 30-90 days post-cutover). This parallel run period provides auditors with evidence that your security controls remained continuously effective during migration. Document everything: security testing results, monitoring logs, access control validations, and incident response capabilities on both platforms. This investment prevents certification suspension and provides rollback capability if security issues emerge.
What are the biggest security mistakes companies make when leaving VMware?
The three most common failures are: (1) not establishing patch management procedures on the new platform, assuming updates “just happen” like in vCenter; (2) inadequate VMware NSX replacement planning, discovering network security gaps after production cutover; and (3) insufficient compliance documentation, failing to prove continuous security control effectiveness to auditors. These mistakes stem from treating migration as purely a technical infrastructure project rather than a security architecture redesign requiring security team leadership.
How do I prove to auditors that my migration maintained compliance?
Provide comprehensive audit documentation: pre-migration security assessment showing baseline controls, migration security plan with control mapping and validation criteria, continuous monitoring logs proving control effectiveness during transition, security testing and penetration test results from the new platform, change management records showing security review approval for each phase, and post-migration validation reports. The key is demonstrating continuous protection not just equivalent final state—auditors need evidence that your security controls never lapsed during the transition.
What security controls mapping should I create before migrating?
Create a matrix with columns: VMware Security Control, Compliance Requirement (which standard requires it), Alternative Platform Control, Validation Method, and Responsible Team. Document every security mechanism: vCenter access controls, ESXi host hardening, NSX distributed firewall rules, network segmentation policies, patch management procedures, security monitoring and logging, backup and encryption, and vulnerability scanning. Map each to its equivalent on the new platform and define how you’ll validate effectiveness. This matrix becomes your security migration blueprint and compliance evidence for auditors.
Will my migration delay if security requirements aren’t ready?
Yes. And that delay prevents far more expensive problems. Migrating before security controls are validated creates three risks: compliance certification suspension requiring 6-12 months recertification, security breaches exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities or control gaps, and technical debt requiring 12-24 months cleanup work. The 3-6 month investment in proper security planning, controls mapping, and validation prevents multi-year remediation projects. Business pressure is real, but rushed migration security failures cost significantly more than the licensing savings that motivated migration.
How do I keep my systems patched during a hypervisor migration?
Maintain patch management on both platforms during transition: continue VMware Update Manager processes on old environment whilst simultaneously establishing patch procedures on new platform. New platform requirements typically include: patch testing procedures (dedicated test environment), deployment automation (Ansible, Puppet, or scripts), patch scheduling and maintenance windows, rollback procedures for failed updates, and vulnerability monitoring to prioritise patches. Many organisations discover this gap too late—establish these procedures during pilot phase before production migration begins.
Security and compliance considerations are just one aspect of the broader VMware migration landscape. Understanding the full picture helps you make informed decisions about protecting your organisation during this transition.
