Proxmox Virtual Environment

Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE or PVE) is a virtualization platform designed for the provisioning of hyper-converged infrastructure.

Proxmox Virtual Environment

Proxmox VE 8.0 administration interface screenshot
Developer	Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH
Written in	Perl,[1] Rust[2]
OS family	Linux (Unix-like)
Working state	Current
Source model	Free and open source software
Initial release	15 April 2008; 16 years ago (2008-04-15)
Latest release	8.2[3]  / 24 April 2024; 6 months ago (24 April 2024)
Latest preview	8.0 beta1[4] / 9 June 2023; 16 months ago (2023-06-09)
Repository	git.proxmox.com
Available in	25 languages[5]
Update method	APT
Package manager	dpkg
Platforms	AMD64
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux)
Userland	GNU
Default user interface	Web-based
License	GNU Affero General Public License[6]
Official website	www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-virtual-environment/

Proxmox allows deployment and management of virtual machines and containers.^[7][8] It is based on a modified Debian LTS kernel.^[9] Two types of virtualization are supported: container-based with LXC (starting from version 4.0 replacing OpenVZ used in version up to 3.4, included^[10]), and full virtualization with KVM.^[11]

It includes a web-based management interface.^[12][13] There is also a mobile application available for controlling PVE environments.^[14]

Proxmox is released under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3.

History

Development of Proxmox VE started when Dietmar Maurer and Martin Maurer, two Linux developers, found out OpenVZ had no backup tool and no management GUI. KVM was appearing at the same time in Linux, and was added shortly afterwards.^[15]

The first public release took place in April 2008. It supported container and full virtualization, managed with a web-based user interface similar to other commercial offerings.^[16]

Features

Proxmox VE is an open-source server virtualization platform to manage two virtualization technologies: Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) for virtual machines and LXC for containers - with a single web-based interface.^[11] It also integrates out-of-the-box-tools for configuring high availability between servers, software-defined storage, networking, and disaster recovery.^[17]

Proxmox VE supports live migration for guest machines between nodes in the scope of a single cluster, which allows smooth migration without interrupting their services.^[18] Since PVE 7.3 there is experimental feature for migration between unrelated nodes in different clusters.^[19]

To authenticate users to the web GUI, Proxmox can use its own internal authentication database, PAM, OIDC, LDAP or Active Directory.^[20] Multi-factor authentication is also available using TOTP, WebAuthn, or YubiKey OTP.^[21]

Since PVE 8.1 there is a full Software-Defined Network (SDN) stack implemented and is compatible with Secure Boot.^[22]

Guest machines backup can be done using the included standalone vzdump tool.^[23] PVE can be also integrated with separate machine Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) using web GUI^[24] or with text based Proxmox Backup Client application.^[25]

Since PVE 8 along with standard GUI installer there's a semi-graphic (TUI) installer integrated into the ISO image.^[20] From PVE 8.2 it's possible to make automatic scripted installation.^[26]

High-availability cluster

Proxmox VE (PVE) can be clustered across multiple server nodes.^[27]

Since version 2.0, Proxmox VE offers a high availability option for clusters based on the Corosync communication stack. Starting from the PVE v.6.0 Corosync v.3.x is in use (not compatible with the earlier PVE versions). Individual virtual servers can be configured for high availability, using the built-in ha-manager.^[28][29] If a Proxmox node becomes unavailable or fails, the virtual servers can be automatically moved to another node and restarted.^[30] The database and FUSE-based Proxmox Cluster filesystem (pmxcfs^[31]) makes it possible to perform the configuration of each cluster node via the Corosync communication stack with SQLite engine.^[13]

Another HA-related element in PVE is distributed filesystem Ceph, which can be used as a shared storage for guest machines.^[32]

Virtual appliances

Proxmox VE has pre-packaged server software appliances which can be downloaded via the GUI.^[33]

See also

• Comparison of platform virtualization software
• Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
• oVirt

References

1. "Proxmox Manager Git Tree". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
2. "Proxmox VE Rust Git Tree". git.proxmox.com.
3. "Proxmox Virtual Environment 8.2 with Import Wizard released". 24 April 2024.
4. "Roadmap". Proxmox. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
5. "projects / proxmox-i18n.git / tree". Retrieved 16 November 2022.
6. "Open Source – Proxmox VE". Proxmox Server Solutions. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
7. Simon M.C. Cheng (31 October 2014). Proxmox High Availability. Packt Publishing Ltd. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-1-78398-089-5.
8. Plura, Michael (July 2013). "Aus dem Nähkästchen". IX Magazin. 2013 (7). Heise Zeitschriften Verlag: 74–77. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
9. "Proxmox VE Kernel - Proxmox VE". pve.proxmox.com. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
10. "Proxmox VE 4.0 with Linux Containers (LXC) and new HA Manager released". Proxmox. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
11. Ken Hess (July 11, 2011). "Proxmox: The Ultimate Hypervisor". ZDNet. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
12. Vervloesem, Koen. "Proxmox VE 2.0 review – A virtualization server for any situation", Linux User & Developer, 11 April 2012. Retrieved on 16 July 2015.
13. Drilling, Thomas (May 2013). "Virtualization Control Room". Linux Pro Magazine. Linux New Media USA. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
14. "Proxmox Virtual Environment". Google Play. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
15. "Proxmox VE 1.5: combining KVM and OpenVZ". Linux Weekly News. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
16. Ken Hess (April 15, 2013). "Happy 5th birthday, Proxmox". ZDNet. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
17. "Features". www.proxmox.com. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
18. Rajvanshi, Akash. "Proxmox 101". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
19. "How to migrate VM from one PVE cluster to another". Proxmox Forums. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
20. Lee, Brandon. "Proxmox 8: New Features and Home Lab Upgrade Instructions". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
21. Lee, Brandon (2024-03-22). "First 10 Steps I do on Proxmox in 2024". Virtualization Howto. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
22. Borisov, Bobby. "Proxmox VE 8.1 Introduces Secure Boot Compatibility". Linuxiac. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
23. "Backup of a running container with vzdump". OpenVZ Wiki. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
24. "Getting Started With Proxmox Backup Server". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
25. "How To Use Proxmox Backup Client To Backup Files In Linux". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
26. Smith, Lyle. "Proxmox VE 8.2 Introduces VMware Import Wizard, Enhanced Backup Options, and Advanced GUI Features". StorageReview. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
27. Wasim Ahmedi (2014-07-14). Mastering Proxmox. Packt Publishing Ltd. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-1-78398-083-3.
28. "PVE HA Manager Source repository". Retrieved 2020-10-19.
29. "Proxmox VE documentation: High Availability". Retrieved 2020-10-19.
30. "High Availability Virtualization using Proxmox VE and Ceph". Jacksonville Linux Users' Group. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
31. "Proxmox Cluster File System (pmxcfs)". Proxmox VE Administration Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
32. Ladyzhenskyi, Pavel. "Setting up a Proxmox VE cluster with Ceph shared storage". Medium.com. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
33. "The next server operating system you buy will be a virtual machine". ZDNET. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2015.

External links

• Official website