A virtual machine you migrated yourself — the first practical step of your migration.
Migrating off VMware to open source: a hands-on workshop
No theory for theory's sake: attendees migrated a real virtual machine off VMware with their own hands, in a live environment, and left with a step-by-step migration plan. The August 2026 tour is over; the same workshop now runs in Europe and the United States.
- Free of charge
- Small groups
- Held in Russian
What is happening to VMware
After Broadcom bought VMware, the familiar model ended: perpetual licences are no longer sold, only subscriptions remain, and renewal bills have grown severalfold — not by percentages, but by multiples. Support for vSphere 7 ended in the autumn of 2025, so "leaving everything as is" stopped being a free option too.
Meanwhile, your infrastructure works, your team knows it, and nobody wants to break it. The real question sounds different: what can replace VMware without losing your data, your people, or your control — and without ending up dependent on the next vendor.
Where to migrate: meet Cozystack
Cozystack is an open virtualization platform built as a VMware replacement: virtual machines, networking, storage, monitoring, and backups in one system. The platform is free, its code is open, and the project grows within the CNCF — the same foundation that stewards Kubernetes.
You don't have to take this on faith: the entire workshop runs inside Cozystack. You will work with the platform hands-on and decide for yourself whether it fits.
- Virtual machines
- Networking
- Storage
- Monitoring
- Backups
What participants did
No three-hour slide decks. Every participant got a personal working environment on a real cluster, and that is where they spent almost all of the time.
00:00
How we got here
talkWhat happened to VMware's prices and support — and what it means for your infrastructure. The only slide block of the day.
00:15
Meeting the platform
hands-onYou open your personal working environment and find everything familiar in it: storage, networking, live migration, monitoring.
00:40
Migrating a virtual machine
hands-onYou export a machine straight from a running VMware server, convert it, and start it on the new platform. It answers requests — your first migrated VM.
01:30
Building the infrastructure around it
hands-onA database in a couple of minutes, a service published to the network, monitoring and backups. At the end, the whole setup comes back up from a single file.
02:20
An honest conversation about limitations
discussionWhat will not move one-to-one, and who should not migrate. Tell us about your hardest machine — and get a straight answer.
02:40
A migration plan for your infrastructure
talkWhere to start at home: the first non-critical workload, the stages of the move, and the support you get after the workshop.
What participants left with
A step-by-step plan: where to start, what to move first, and how to split the move into stages.
Clarity about VMware: what will migrate, what won't, and when staying is the wiser choice.
Working skills with an open virtualization platform — without courses or months of self-study.
Materials and cheat sheets to work with at home — plus a month of support after the workshop.
Who it was for
VMware administrator / sysadmin
- Everything is explained through concepts you already know — no Kubernetes required.
- You migrate a machine yourself and take the working cheat sheet home.
- A test environment and a maintainer chat for another month afterwards.
Infrastructure lead
- The full migration picture, including the limitations — we state them first.
- A pilot plan tied to your renewal date.
- Come together with one of your engineers: one sees the "how", the other decides the "when".
Technology executive
- The economics of the move, without marketing promises.
- Straight answers about risk: open code, independent support, no single-vendor dependency.
- A trained engineer and an honest assessment of your hardest systems — the same day.
DevOps engineer
- Virtual machines and containers in one system, managed as code.
- Databases, storage, and monitoring — built in, no manual assembly.
- A platform you and the virtualization team can finally agree on.
A month of support and learning after the workshop
- Your test environment stays with you for another 30 days — for experiments and certification prep.
- Take-home lab exercises — with support from the Cozystack maintainers.
- A chat where Cozystack maintainers answer your questions.
- The option to take the Ænix Certification for Cozystack — Fundamentals exam — free, 60 questions in English; the labs earn a separate practice badge.
Your host
Timur Tukaev
Cozystack maintainer · Ænix co-founder
Timur is a maintainer of the open Cozystack platform and a co-founder of Ænix, the company that created Cozystack and co-maintains it. The workshop format is his: no marketing slides, most of the time at the terminal, and the platform's weak points named before its strong ones.
Cities
The program was the same in every city. All four sessions took place in August 2026.
Uzbekistan
Tashkent
Impact.t Hub, Bogibuston St. 186, 5th floorTook place
Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek
Technopark, Gorkogo St. 1a, event hall “GO”Took place
Kazakhstan
Almaty
Almaty Hub, Zenkov St. 24, 4th floorLocal partner in Almaty — QOSI, Qazaq Open Source Initiative.Took place
Kazakhstan
Astana
Astana Hub, 55/1 Mangilik El Ave., Block C3.5, Franklin Herbert hallLocal partner in Astana — GoHost.kz.Took place
The August 2026 tour has finished
It ran in Almaty, Bishkek, Astana and Tashkent. The same hands-on workshop, held in English, now travels across Europe in October–November 2026 and the United States in November–December 2026 — registration is open on those pages.
About the workshop
This was a free hands-on workshop for people who run VMware and are deciding what to do next. It took place in August 2026 in Tashkent, Bishkek, Almaty, and Astana. In one day, participants migrated a real virtual machine off a running VMware server onto Cozystack — an open virtualization platform developed within the CNCF — with their own hands. Most of the time was practice in a personal working environment: migrating the machine, adding a database, monitoring, and backups. The workshop was led by Timur Tukaev, Cozystack maintainer and Ænix co-founder. Afterwards, every participant kept a test environment for 30 days, a chat with the platform’s maintainers, take-home lab exercises, and the option to take the free Ænix Certification for Cozystack — Fundamentals exam. Attendance was free; seats were limited.
Quick facts
- Format An in-person workshop, about four hours: roughly three hours of practice in a personal working environment, the rest — short explanations and conversation
- Cities Tashkent, Bishkek, Almaty, Astana — all four sessions took place in August 2026
- Price Free; seats were limited
- Language Russian; commands and materials are in English
- Who it's for VMware administrators, sysadmins, infrastructure leads, technology executives, DevOps engineers
- After the workshop A test environment for 30 days, a chat with Cozystack maintainers, take-home labs with a practice badge, and the option to take the free Ænix Certification for Cozystack — Fundamentals exam
- Host Timur Tukaev — Cozystack maintainer, Ænix co-founder
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
Attendance was free. The August 2026 tour has finished, so there is nothing to register for on this page. The same workshop runs in English across Europe in October–November 2026 and the United States in November–December 2026. Seats are deliberately limited: everyone gets real time at the terminal and an assistant’s attention when needed.
I run VMware but don't know Kubernetes. Will I keep up?
Yes. The workshop is built for exactly your profile: everything is explained through VMware concepts you already know, and assistants are there whenever something doesn’t work. Your experience is the foundation we build on.
What language is the workshop in?
Russian. Commands and materials are in English. This page also has a Russian version.
What should I bring?
A laptop with a browser — that’s all. Your working environment is prepared in advance; there is nothing to install.
Is this a sales presentation?
No. It is training: you spend most of the time working with your hands, and the program includes an honest conversation about what the platform cannot do and who should not migrate. No contracts, no pressure.
What exactly will I do with my own hands?
Move a virtual machine off a running VMware server, deploy a database, publish a service to the network, see how monitoring and backups work — and, at the end, bring the whole setup back up from a single file.
What happened after the workshop?
Each participant kept the test environment for another 30 days, received take-home lab exercises, and joined a chat where Cozystack maintainers answer questions. You can then take the free Ænix Certification for Cozystack — Fundamentals exam (60 questions, 90 minutes, in English); the certificate comes from passing the exam. Completing the labs earns a separate practice badge. The certification study materials are in English, with a Russian version at /ru/certification/.
We run Oracle, SAP, or specially licensed Windows. Will it migrate?
Maybe not — and we will say so directly. Vendor licensing restrictions are one of the topics of the honest-limitations conversation. Bring your hardest case and get a straight answer.
Can I bring my manager or a colleague?
Please do. The workshop works best in pairs — an engineer plus a manager: one leaves with hands-on experience, the other with a plan.
Ran in Almaty · Bishkek · Astana · Tashkent, August 2026
Migrating off VMware to open source: a hands-on workshop
The August 2026 tour has finished. The same hands-on workshop runs across Europe in October–November 2026 and in the United States in November–December 2026.