best way to virtualize 10.12.6 server

[Flint Ironstag]

Hey old timers! I have a Mac mini server and thunderbolt storage serving ~50 clients 24/7. I have 2 HP workstations available, 1 Hackintosh and the other Windows 10 available to host.

What is the best method to convert the machine to a VM? Needs to be as trouble free as the server itself until a permanent solution is in place. Bonus points for being free and potentially portable to ProxMox, as I see myself building on that in the future.

Thanks in advance!

 

[chrfr]

Hey old timers! I have a Mac mini server and thunderbolt storage serving ~50 clients 24/7. I have 2 HP workstations available, 1 Hackintosh and the other Windows 10 available to host.

What is the best method to convert the machine to a VM? Needs to be as trouble free as the server itself until a permanent solution is in place. Bonus points for being free and potentially portable to ProxMox, as I see myself building on that in the future.

Thanks in advance!

There's no good way to do this, and if it matters to you or your organization, virtualizing macOS on non-Apple hardware violates Apple's license terms.
A Mac VM will not have native access to the thunderbolt storage so you won't be able to use that to host your shared directories, unless you make a huge virtual machine that takes up your entire thunderbolt volume and copy everything local to it.
I would keep using the Mac mini, or get another one if yours has failed, to use temporarily while you move to a supported replacement system. In general, yours is not a good strategy here.