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Proxmox Virtual Environment

Proxmox Virtual Environment is a virtualization platform designed for the provisioning of hyper-converged infrastructure.

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Proxmox Virtual Environment
Proxmox VE 8.0 administration interface screenshot
DeveloperProxmox Server Solutions GmbH
Written inPerl,1 Rust2
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelFree and open source software
Initial release15 April 2008 (2008-04-15)
Latest release9.23 Edit this on Wikidata / 21 May 2026 (21 May 2026)
Latest preview9.0 beta14 / 18 July 2025 (2025-07-18)
Repository
Available in25 languages5
Update methodAPT
Package managerdpkg
Supported platformsAMD64
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux)
UserlandGNU
Default
user interface		Web-based
LicenseGNU Affero General Public License6
Official websitewww.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-virtual-environment/ Edit this at Wikidata

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

Proxmox allows deployment and management of virtual machines and containers.78 It is based on Debian GNU/Linux9 and uses a modified Ubuntu LTS kernel.10 Two types of virtualization are supported: container-based with LXC (starting from version 4.0 replacing OpenVZ used in version up to 3.4, included11), and full virtualization with KVM.12 New releases are made approximately every two to four months, with major updates taking longer.

It includes a web-based management interface.1314 There is also a mobile application available for controlling PVE environments.15

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

History

Development of Proxmox VE started in 2005 when Dietmar Maurer and Martin Maurer, two Linux developers, discovered OpenVZ had no backup tool or management GUI. KVM was also appearing at the same time in Linux, and was added shortly afterwards.16

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.17

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.12 It also integrates out-of-the-box-tools for configuring high availability between servers, software-defined storage, networking, and disaster recovery.18

KVM Virtualization

Proxmox VE includes a Linux kernel that runs directly on hardware as a hypervisor (also called a Virtual Machine Monitor) using KVM. Starting from Linux kernel version 2.6.21, the kernel provides the paravirt ops interface as a framework for virtualization applications. The advantage of KVM is the ability to run virtually any x86 operating system without modification under centralized management. This mode is referred to as full virtualization or Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM). Hardware support for virtualization via AMD-V or Intel VT is required on the host system for HVM virtualization.

LXC Containers

From version 4.0 onward, Linux Containers (LXC) replace the previously used OpenVZ containers (used through Proxmox VE 3.4). Unlike virtual machines, containers have a lower memory footprint; however, the guest system is limited to Linux, since containers share the host kernel. LXC in Proxmox VE 4.x and later supports storage plugins including Ceph, ZFS (local or via iSCSI), NFS, GlusterFS, iSCSI, Sheepdog, and local storage (directories or LVM). DRBD9 is no longer directly supported since Proxmox 4.4 due to licensing issues and can only be integrated via external plugins.

OpenVZ (legacy)

Through version 3.4, Proxmox VE used OpenVZ as its container technology. OpenVZ uses a single shared kernel for all container instances, providing lower memory and CPU overhead compared to KVM. However, only Linux guest systems are supported, and guests cannot load their own kernel modules, as the kernel is shared with the host system. To simplify administration, Proxmox VE/OpenVZ provided templates that automated the necessary adjustments to the guest system. All running containers benefit immediately from a host kernel update, potentially reducing administrative overhead. When upgrading a Proxmox cluster from version 3.4 or earlier, existing OpenVZ containers can be converted to LXC.

Storage

PVE supports local storage media such as hard drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD), as well as network-based storage including SAN and NAS, accessible via NFS or as block devices over iSCSI. For local storage management, LVM is used; virtual disk images are stored either in thinly provisioned logical volumes (thin-LVM) or in a filesystem using the qcow2 format standard to QEMU, allowing disk images to be exchanged between virtualization environments at the file level. Both ext4 and the more resource-intensive ZFS are available as host filesystems.

Live Migration

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.19 Since PVE 7.3 there is an experimental feature for migration between unrelated nodes in different clusters.20

Firewall

PVE provides an iptables-based firewall configurable both at the host system level and individually for each guest system. Firewall rules can be managed through the web interface.

Console Access

The console interface for guest systems — including graphical output and keyboard/mouse input via a virtual KVM switch — is available either through the SPICE protocol or via an HTML5-based implementation of Virtual Network Computing (noVNC). To avoid allocating a separate port for each guest's console interface on the host, encrypted access with authentication is routed through a proxy.

PCIe Passthrough

Since version 5.3, the web interface supports passing individual host hardware components — such as PCIe expansion cards or GPUs — directly to specific guest systems for exclusive access. This requires enabling Intel VT-d or AMD-Vi in the system BIOS.

Authentication

To authenticate users to the web GUI, Proxmox can use its own internal authentication database, PAM, OIDC, LDAP or Active Directory.21 Multi-factor authentication is also available using TOTP, WebAuthn, or YubiKey OTP.22

Since PVE 8.1 there is a full Software-Defined Network (SDN) stack implemented and is compatible with Secure Boot.23

Guest machine backups can be done using the included standalone vzdump tool.24 PVE can also be integrated with a separate Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) using a web GUI,25 or with the text-based Proxmox Backup Client application.26

Since PVE 8, along with the standard GUI installer, there is a semi-graphic (TUI) installer integrated into the ISO image.21 From PVE 8.2 it is possible to make automatic scripted installations27 and a wizard for importing VMware guest systems is available.

High-Availability Cluster

Proxmox VE (PVE) can be clustered across multiple server nodes.28

Since version 2.0, Proxmox VE offers a high availability option for clusters based on the Corosync communication stack. Starting from PVE 6.0, Corosync 3.x is in use (not compatible with earlier PVE versions). Individual virtual servers can be configured for high availability using the integrated HA manager.2930 If a Proxmox node becomes unavailable or fails, the virtual machines can be automatically moved to another node and restarted.31 The database and FUSE-based Proxmox Cluster file system (pmxcfs32) makes it possible to perform the configuration of each cluster node via the Corosync communication stack with SQLite engine.14

Another HA-related element in PVE is the distributed file system Ceph, which can be used as a shared storage for guest machines.33

There is also an independent tool available for rebalancing virtual machines and containers between nodes, called Prox Load Balancer (ProxLB).34

Virtual Appliances

Proxmox VE has pre-packaged server software appliances which can be downloaded via the GUI.35

Additional Software

Proxmox Server Solutions offers several products alongside Proxmox VE, some of which integrate directly with it.

Proxmox Backup Server

The Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) allows users to back up virtual machines at configurable intervals using incremental backups: after an initial full backup, only changes relative to the previous backup are stored, enabling backup intervals as short as a few minutes. A separate schedule for full backups can also be configured. Additional features include backup encryption, configurable retention policies, and backup verification jobs. PBS integrates with PVE through the web GUI;36 a standalone Proxmox Backup Client command-line application is also available for backing up files independently of PVE.37

Proxmox Mail Gateway

The Proxmox Mail Gateway can be used independently of Proxmox VE. It provides dedicated spam filtering for email traffic, the ability to block specific senders, and email traffic statistics.38

Proxmox Datacenter Manager

At the end of 2024 it was announced that Proxmox Datacenter Manager (PDM) was being developed. Its role is to aggregate management of multiple PVE clusters or hosts, possibly thousands. First release was labelled as alpha, with beta and stable versions expected in 2025.39 Beta version (0.9), which has been released in September 2025, is lacking notifications and console access for nodes, but allows pulling error logs from nodes and managing updates on them. It enables simple migration of virtual machines and LXC containers between managed nodes.40

Trivia

Proxmox VE is used at the Columbus ISS Module — Columbus is a ESA science laboratory module that forms part of the International Space Station (ISS).4142

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "Proxmox Manager Git Tree". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  2. "Proxmox VE Rust Git Tree". git.proxmox.com.
  3. "Proxmox Virtual Environment 9.2 with Dynamic Load Balancer released". 21 May 2026. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
  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. "Features". Proxmox. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
  10. "Proxmox VE Kernel - Proxmox VE". pve.proxmox.com. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
  11. "Proxmox VE 4.0 with Linux Containers (LXC) and new HA Manager released". Proxmox. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  12. Ken Hess (July 11, 2011). "Proxmox: The Ultimate Hypervisor". ZDNet. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  13. Vervloesem, Koen. "Proxmox VE 2.0 review – A virtualization server for any situation", Linux User & Developer, 11 April 2012. Retrieved on 16 July 2015.
  14. Drilling, Thomas (May 2013). "Virtualization Control Room". Linux Pro Magazine. Linux New Media USA. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  15. "Proxmox Virtual Environment". Google Play. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  16. "Proxmox VE 1.5: combining KVM and OpenVZ". Linux Weekly News. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  17. Ken Hess (April 15, 2013). "Happy 5th birthday, Proxmox". ZDNet. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  18. "Features". www.proxmox.com. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  19. Rajvanshi, Akash. "Proxmox 101". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  20. "How to migrate VM from one PVE cluster to another". Proxmox Forums. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  21. Lee, Brandon. "Proxmox 8: New Features and Home Lab Upgrade Instructions". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  22. Lee, Brandon (2024-03-22). "First 10 Steps I do on Proxmox in 2024". Virtualization Howto. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  23. Borisov, Bobby. "Proxmox VE 8.1 Introduces Secure Boot Compatibility". Linuxiac. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  24. "Backup of a running container with vzdump". OpenVZ Wiki. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  25. "Getting Started With Proxmox Backup Server". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  26. "How To Use Proxmox Backup Client To Backup Files In Linux". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  27. Smith, Lyle. "Proxmox VE 8.2 Introduces VMware Import Wizard, Enhanced Backup Options, and Advanced GUI Features". StorageReview. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  28. Wasim Ahmedi (2014-07-14). Mastering Proxmox. Packt Publishing Ltd. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-1-78398-083-3.
  29. "PVE HA Manager Source repository". Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  30. "Proxmox VE documentation: High Availability". Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  31. "High Availability Virtualization using Proxmox VE and Ceph". Jacksonville Linux Users' Group. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  32. "Proxmox Cluster File System (pmxcfs)". Proxmox VE Administration Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  33. Ladyzhenskyi, Pavel. "Setting up a Proxmox VE cluster with Ceph shared storage". Medium.com. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  34. "ProxLB - The Prox Load Balancer for Proxmox". ProxLB. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  35. "The next server operating system you buy will be a virtual machine". ZDNET. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  36. "Getting Started With Proxmox Backup Server". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  37. "How To Use Proxmox Backup Client To Backup Files In Linux". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  38. "Proxmox Mail Gateway". Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  39. t.lamprecht (Dec 19, 2024). "Proxmox Datacenter Manager - First Alpha Release". Proxmox forum. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  40. Pande, Ayush. "Proxmox Datacenter Manager is an underrated tool for your PVE servers". XDA. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  41. Schouten, Mark (2025-10-10). "Dutch Proxmox Day 2025 wrap-up". Tuxis B.V. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
  42. "CRS NG-24 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Next Spaceflight". nextspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
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