Sheetz Ditches VMware Across 838 Stores, Citing Broadcom's "Too Much Uncertainty"

Sheetz, the US convenience store chain, is moving its 838 locations off VMware and migrating approximately 11,000 virtual machines to StorMagic's SvHCI platform. The decision comes as a direct response to sweeping changes Broadcom made to VMware's licensing and pricing structure following its acquisition of the virtualization software company.

Since 2019, Sheetz has relied on VMware virtualization running across two Dell R440/R450-series servers at each of its store locations. The retailer is now shifting 12 to 14 virtual machines per store from VMware vSphere to StorMagic SvHCI. An additional two VMs per location are slated for replacement in the coming months as Sheetz transitions from Windows 10 to Windows 11, according to Scott Robertson, infrastructure team manager at Sheetz. The company continues to use its original Dell server hardware throughout the migration.

Broadcom's Licensing Overhaul Forces Sheetz's Hand

Robertson explained that Broadcom's decision to eliminate perpetual licenses in favor of subscription-based bundles left the retail chain with little choice but to seek an alternative. The new model requires customers to commit to large bundled packages and long-term subscription contracts.

"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," Robertson said in an email to Ars Technica.

Broadcom's takeover of VMware has prompted numerous competitors to court disgruntled customers who are unhappy with the new licensing terms. However, even frustrated IT departments face challenges finding replacements that match VMware's breadth and capabilities. Over its 28 years in the market, VMware has become virtually synonymous with enterprise virtualization, making direct replacements difficult to identify and evaluate.

StorMagic: A Familiar Partner for Sheetz

Sheetz ultimately settled on StorMagic, a vendor it was already working with. Since 2019, the convenience store chain had been running StorMagic's SvSAN, a virtual storage area network product, alongside VMware to support critical in-store applications across its distributed retail footprint.

Gary Sliver, director of platform engineering at Sheetz, said the earlier deployment gave the company confidence that StorMagic could handle the demands of a large-scale retail operation.

"Our initial rollout proved StorMagic could deliver the resilience and centralized management needed across a large, distributed retail environment," Sliver said in a statement.

Remote Migration Cuts Costs and Complexity

One of the key advantages of the StorMagic transition is that Sheetz has not needed to dispatch technicians to every store. Sliver confirmed that the migration has been handled remotely, avoiding the logistical complexity and expense of on-site visits across hundreds of retail locations.

Robertson added that the ability to move from SvSAN to SvHCI without requiring hardware upgrades will save the company a "significant" amount of money. Sheetz is still running the same Dell R440/R450-series servers it originally deployed in 2019.

Migration Progress and What Lies Ahead

As of the company's announcement, Sheetz had completed migration at more than 600 stores, averaging roughly 200 locations per month. The chain expects to finish the remaining sites within four months, completing the full transition of approximately 11,000 virtual machines.

Despite the steady progress, Robertson acknowledged that migrating virtualization platforms at this scale still presents challenges, as would be expected with a major IT project. When asked about Sheetz's biggest migration obstacles, Robertson indicated that hurdles remain, though specific details were not shared.

Sheetz's experience reflects a broader pattern of enterprises reevaluating their VMware commitments in the wake of Broadcom's licensing changes. With numerous competitors actively pursuing disillusioned VMware customers, the convenience store chain's successful migration of over 600 stores already completed may offer valuable insights for other organizations contemplating similar moves. The project demonstrates that large-scale virtualization transitions are feasible, even for distributed retail operations with hundreds of locations.

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Source: Ars Technica