RDSH on Proxmox vs S2D for Retail SMB : Performance, Stability, and Cost?

[Jolof_IT]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently designing the IT infrastructure for a small retail business with 15 small shops and one headquarters.

The main need is to host business-critical applications on Windows Server VMs accessed via RDP from shop users (for printing receipts, invoicing, etc.).

Background
Initially, I was planning to go with a Hyper-V setup using Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) with a Datacenter license to benefit from unlimited virtualization rights.

But the high cost of Windows Server Datacenter licensing made me seriously consider a more open-source and budget-friendly option, namely Proxmox VE.

Goals
Around 15 Windows Server 2019/2022 VMs

Each VM will support up to 10 RDP users

Receipt printing from POS via RDP

High availability required (even if progressive)

Capability to evolve into a Ceph cluster in the mid-term

Keep a good balance of stability / performance / cost

Available Hardware (2x identical servers)
HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon Gold 6138 (40 threads total)

RAM: 64 GB DDR4 ECC per server (upgradeable to 128 GB)

Storage: 4x 2.4 TB 10K SAS disks

Can be upgraded with:

2x SSDs (SATA or NVMe) per server

A 3rd identical server if necessary

My Questions
Is Proxmox stable enough to run Windows RDSH in production, including printing from POS systems over RDP?

Would S2D + Hyper-V (Datacenter licensing) be a better or more robust choice, or is it overkill for a company of this size?

Is it realistic to start with local ZFS + SSD per node and later migrate to a Ceph cluster without breaking everything?

What’s the recommended RAM capacity to comfortably host 15 RDS VMs (up to 10 users each)?

Any lessons learned or gotchas when running Windows Server 2019/2022 virtualized on Proxmox?

Is the current hardware sufficient or is it absolutely necessary to add a third node?

Thanks in advance for any feedback, real-world experience, or constructive criticism

 

[alexskysilk]

Is Proxmox stable enough to run Windows RDSH in production, including printing from POS systems over RDP?

Yes.

Would S2D + Hyper-V (Datacenter licensing) be a better or more robust choice, or is it overkill for a company of this size?

Wrong audience. HyperV can and does work well, but this is a Proxmox forum

Is it realistic to start with local ZFS + SSD per node and later migrate to a Ceph cluster without breaking everything?

No. whatever you do, make sure to architect the STORAGE first as so much of the rest of the deployment (HA, performance) is going to be tied to it.

What’s the recommended RAM capacity to comfortably host 15 RDS VMs (up to 10 users each)?

you're gonna have to get statistics from your current guests/servers. "Comfortable" is entirely arbitrary since we have no idea what your application requires.

Is the current hardware sufficient or is it absolutely necessary to add a third node?

You should have a minimum of 3 servers in a cluster; your entire workload (less OS overhead) should fit within n-1 servers (so 2 with 3 nodes deployed. Its possible to do 2+witness but all being equal 3 nodes is the practical minimum.) Then there's the matter of storage; why on earth would you spec spinning disks in 2025?! and since this is for a cluster, are they intended for ceph? if yes, discussion of networking comes into play; If not, you really want a SAN in which case you dont even need those in the first place.