Sheetz moves 838 stores off VMware: Broadcom created “too much uncertainty"

The conveneince store chain will use StorMagic instead.

Sheetz, a US convenience store chain, is moving its 838 locations off VMware. Sheetz has used VMware virtualization across two Dell R440/R450-series servers at each of its locations since 2019. Now it’s migrating 12 to 14 virtual machines (VMs) in each of its stores from VMware vSphere to StorMagic’s SvHCI, “with an additional two VMs to be replaced over the coming months to transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11,” Scott Robertson, infrastructure team manager at Sheetz, told Ars Technica via email.

Ultimately, Sheetz will move about 11,000 VMs from Broadcom’s virtualization platform. Sheetz is still running the original Dell server hardware. So far, Sheetz has finished migrating more than 600 stores, averaging 200 per month, according to a company announcement today.

Sheetz should be finished with the migration in four months, the announcement said. Robertson said that Sheetz decided to quit VMware because Broadcom’s changes, which include eliminating perpetual licenses in favor of subscriptions to large bundles, forced the retail chain’s hand. He added: The projected price hikes, coupled with a mandatory subscription model and a five-year commitment, simply created too much uncertainty around long-term budgeting and increased our vendor dependence.

There are numerous rivals trying to lure VMware customers left disgruntled by Broadcom’s takeover. But even frustrated IT departments are challenged to find replacements that match the breadth and capabilities of VMware, which has become synonymous with virtualization in its 28 years. Sheetz settled on StorMagic after already using StorMagic’s virtual storage area network offering, SvSAN, alongside VMware for critical in-store applications since 2019.

“Our initial rollout proved StorMagic could deliver the resilience and centralized management needed across a large, distributed retail environment,” Gary Sliver, director of platform engineering at Sheetz, said in a statement. Sliver also noted that migrating hasn’t required Sheetz to “send technicians to every site.” Robertson told Ars that the ability to move from SvSAN to SvHCI remotely and without requiring hardware upgrades will save Sheetz a “significant” amount of money.

Still, as expected with a big IT project, migrating virtualization platforms still presents challenges. When asked about Sheetz’s biggest migration obstacles, Robertson told Ars: