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Beyond Standard Ubuntu: A Look at Dedicated Virtualization Platforms

6 February 2026bpd · ubuntu

When You Need a Purpose-Built Hypervisor

While running KVM on a standard Ubuntu Server is incredibly flexible, for large-scale virtualization deployments, you might want a purpose-built operating system. The ‘Ubuntu System Administration Guide’ briefly introduces some of these dedicated platforms.

Proxmox Virtual Environment

Proxmox is a popular open-source virtualization platform based on Debian Linux. It provides a powerful web interface for managing both KVM virtual machines and LXC containers. A key feature of Proxmox is its ability to easily create and manage a cluster of multiple physical servers, allowing for high availability and live migration of VMs between hosts.

OpenStack

For building a true private cloud, OpenStack is the leading open-source solution. It is a massive suite of tools that provides an ‘infrastructure as a service’ (IaaS) platform, similar to public clouds like AWS or Google Cloud, but running on your own hardware. While its complexity is significant, it offers unparalleled scale and flexibility for large enterprise deployments.

This post is based from content of the book Ubuntu System adminstration guide. And the book can be found here https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mattias-Hemmingsson/author/B0FF5CQX13