Rethinking VMware-to-KVM Migration Beyond VDDK

Migrate from VMware to vendor independence with intelligent automation, minimal downtime and a VDDK-free migration path.

23 October 2026 - 9:00 AM EDT | 2:00 PM BST | 3:00 PM CEST | 6:30 PM IST

Moving away from VMware involves more than choosing an alternative platform. You must assess complex environments, plan migration waves, minimise downtime and overcome technical dependencies such as VDDK.

Join ShapeBlue to discover how ShapeBlue Migrate automates the journey from VMware to KVM and Apache CloudStack – from environment discovery and workload planning to migration execution and controlled cutover. We will demonstrate how its new direct NFS read capability enables warm migrations for NFS-backed VMware environments without relying on VDDK, while reducing load on ESXi hosts and potentially accelerating data transfer.

You will also hear practical guidance from ShapeBlue’s experts, based on real-world experience planning and delivering complex VMware migration projects.

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This webinar explains how organisations can migrate VMware workloads to Apache CloudStack and KVM using a structured, automated migration process. It covers VMware environment discovery, migration-wave planning, workload conversion, Changed Block Tracking, VDDK limitations, direct NFS reads and controlled cutover.

The Webinar at a Glance

Topic

Automated VMware-to-KVM migration. Choosing the right platform to migrate away from VMware.

Migration Destination

Apache CloudStack with KVM

Product Demonstrated

ShapeBlue Migrate - automated migration tool designed to help organizations move large-scale VMware environments to Apache CloudStack.

Technical Focus

Structured VMware migration to open-source. VDDK, Changed Block Tracking and direct NFS reads.

Format

Technical presentation, live demonstration and Q&A session.

Time and Date

October 23rd, 2026 23 October 2026 - 9:00 AM EDT | 2:00 PM BST | 3:00 PM CEST | 6:30 PM IST

Suitable for

Enterprises, cloud service providers and managed service providers, telecoms.

The Value for You

What You Will Learn

During this webinar, we will explore:

  • The operational challenges involved in large-scale VMware-to-KVM migration
  • Why downtime and cutover planning often matter more than raw migration speed
  • How to assess a VMware environment and organise workloads into controlled migration waves
  • Why Apache CloudStack and KVM provide a scalable, open-source alternative to VMware
  • What VDDK is and how dependency on it can affect VMware migration projects
  • How direct NFS reads enable VDDK-free warm migration for supported NFS-backed VMware environments
  • How automation reduces manual work, migration risk and operational complexity
  • How ShapeBlue Migrate supports the journey from VMware discovery to final cutover

Meet the Presenters

Khachatur Nazaretyan

CTO, ShapeBlue

Khachatur has worked across the whole infrastructure stack for nearly two decades, starting in full-stack development in 2007 and moving through systems and network administration, senior cloud architecture and technical consulting. He has designed and run CloudStack-based private cloud platforms for enterprise and service provider workloads. 

Jithin Raju

Cloud Architect, ShapeBlue

Jithin is a Cloud Architect by profession. He has helped organisations around the globe use commercial distributions of Apache CloudStack over the past 10 years. These organisations include private, public, and government cloud service providers.

Webinar-VMware to Open-Source_02

Moving VMware workloads without relying on VDDK? There is an option!

Many VMware-to-KVM migration methods use the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit, or VDDK, to access and transfer virtual disks. Obtaining and maintaining the correct VDDK version can create an additional dependency within a migration project.

ShapeBlue Migrate provides several migration mechanisms for different workloads and storage architectures. Its direct NFS read capability allows the migration worker to read source disks directly from accessible NFS datastores during Changed Block Tracking migrations.

For supported NFS-backed VMware environments, this removes VDDK and the ESXi host from the data-transfer path. It can reduce load on ESXi hosts, remove an external software dependency and accelerate migration where the existing transfer path is the bottleneck.

Webinar-VMware to Open-Source_01

Automated VMware-to-KVM migration with ShapeBlue Migrate?

ShapeBlue Migrate is designed to help organisations plan and execute complex VMware-to-Apache CloudStack migrations through a structured and repeatable process. The platform supports:

  • Automated discovery and inventory across VMware environments
  • Workload assessment and migration-wave planning
  • Multiple migration mechanisms for different workloads
  • Warm migration using Changed Block Tracking
  • Direct NFS reads for supported NFS-backed environments
  • Planned and controlled cutovers
  • Centralised migration monitoring and progress tracking
  • Granular configuration at environment, wave and virtual-machine level

Frequently Asked Questions

Why migrate from VMware to Apache CloudStack and KVM?

Apache CloudStack and KVM provide an open-source alternative for organisations that want greater control over their virtualisation and cloud infrastructure. KVM provides the virtualisation layer, while Apache CloudStack manages and orchestrates the compute, networking and storage resources around it. Together, they provide a complete platform for operating private, public and sovereign cloud environments without depending on a proprietary virtualisation stack.

KVM is a powerful open-source hypervisor, but it does not provide a complete cloud management platform by itself. Organisations still need a way to manage hosts, virtual machines, networks, storage, users, permissions, capacity and automation across the infrastructure.

Apache CloudStack adds this management and orchestration layer. It provides a central user interface and API for deploying and managing KVM-based cloud infrastructure at scale.

Yes. Apache CloudStack provides many of the infrastructure capabilities organisations expect from an enterprise virtualisation and cloud platform, including high availability, live migration, host maintenance, workload management, software-defined networking, storage integration, templates, snapshots, role-based access and infrastructure automation.

CloudStack is not a direct copy of VMware vSphere. It uses a cloud-oriented architecture designed to manage infrastructure across clusters, datacentres and geographic regions. Organisations should assess how their existing VMware architecture and operational processes will map to CloudStack before beginning a migration.

CloudStack’s core functionality includes:

  • Multi-tenant cloud orchestration
  • Compute, storage, and network management
  • Flexible hypervisor support (KVM, VMware, XenServer/XCP-ng, Hyper-V)
  • Advanced networking (VLANs, security groups, VRs)
  • Role-based access control
  • Self-service user portals
  • Comprehensive API ecosystem
  • Usage metering and billing integration

These features provide both operational control and flexibility for cloud administrators and consumers.

Apache CloudStack provides a broad set of capabilities for managing enterprise and service-provider infrastructure, including:

  • Centralised management of compute, networking and storage
  • High availability and virtual machine state monitoring
  • Live migration and host maintenance
  • Multi-tenant resource isolation
  • Advanced networking, including isolated networks, VPCs, VLANs, firewalls and load balancing
  • Integration with NFS, iSCSI, Ceph and other storage technologies
  • Role-based access and delegated administration
  • LDAP, SAML, OAuth2 and two-factor authentication options
  • Usage metering, alerts, capacity management and audit logs
  • A comprehensive API for automation and third-party integrations

The exact architecture and available capabilities depend on the CloudStack version, hypervisor, storage and networking technologies selected.

Yes. Apache CloudStack is designed to manage infrastructure across multiple zones, pods, clusters and hypervisor hosts. It gives operators centralised visibility and control while allowing resources, accounts and administrative responsibilities to be separated across domains and projects.

This architecture makes CloudStack suitable for large enterprise environments, cloud service providers, managed service providers and organisations operating infrastructure across multiple locations.

Apache CloudStack is an open-source project governed by the Apache Software Foundation rather than controlled by a single commercial software vendor. Organisations can inspect the source code, operate the platform independently and choose their own infrastructure, integration and support partners.

CloudStack also supports multiple hypervisors, storage systems and networking technologies. This flexibility helps organisations reduce dependence on a single infrastructure vendor and make future technology decisions based on their operational requirements.

ShapeBlue supports the complete migration journey, from discovery and assessment to target architecture, CloudStack deployment, pilot migration, large-scale execution and post-migration operations.

ShapeBlue Migrate adds automation across the migration process, while ShapeBlue’s consultants and engineers provide the architectural and operational expertise needed to prepare the target platform, select the appropriate migration mechanisms and manage complex migration scenarios.