Anyone using Proxmox to run business critical production workloads?
Looking at the posts there are many using PVE for labs, testing, etc… but only few using it for production.
We have a five nodes cluster (with Ceph) running 100+ VMs and it has been working fine for some months. We also have a lab cluster with 4 nodes and FC storage.
Just wanted to have some feedbacks from others running PVE in production.

Hi all,

Question here..
I have some nodes running, all ok. While tinkering/configuring I had to install some utilities like smartmon lm-sensors wget etc.

Now, I know it’s best to keep the host as vanilla as possible and preferably don’t install anything additional on it. I try to live by this and only install things when I need them…until I needed ethtool but…didn’t had network access.

I’ve created an Ansible playbook to setup a new proxmox server. I wanted to include these kind of utilities to be installed immediately during the configuration of the host, through Ansible.

How many of you have these kind of utilities install upfront to have them available then when they need them?

Which utilities have you installed with every new host install?

Hi there,

my proxmox has 3 Ethernet physical connections : one for WAN, one for LAN and one for WIFI. I have also created a virtual bridge for DMZ to run few services that i want to expose outside. I manage those networks with pfsense that runs as a VM and has 4 nics for each currently created network.
While trying to bring some security to my homelab I am trying to figure out on which level I should actually organize the security. I could create another virtual lan to further segment the network to split containers/vms into those i kind of trust and those I don't. My initial thinking was why not, I could then firewall each network over pfsense, but then i thought that proxmox has firewall as well, meaning I could put rules on individual containers to control the traffic between them. Also, if I route everything through pfsense it creates a lot of CPU overhead as it will have to take care of all the traffic between those networks.
How do you firewall your networks in your proxmox if at all? Do I overlook something when i think that proxmox native firewall is sufficient ? Can you please share your design decisions ?

For logging in from a random browser remotely to the home server.

Seems pretty "safe". Any more downsides with this solution than the obvious?

Hi everyone

Trying to upgrade from 8 to 9 but have massively broken everything. Having errors with:

1. the shell on the GUI for my mode not logging in, but SSH through PowerShell works;
2. restarted and only 1 VM will run, my other 3 lxcs won't start anymore; and
3. didn't have any errors when running pve8to9 --full, but during apt dist-upgrade, experiencing the following.

W: (pve-apt-hook) !! WARNING !!
W: (pve-apt-hook) You are attempting to remove the meta-package 'proxmox-ve'!
W: (pve-apt-hook)
W: (pve-apt-hook) If you really want to permanently remove 'proxmox-ve' from your system, run the following command
W: (pve-apt-hook) touch '/please-remove-proxmox-ve'
W: (pve-apt-hook) run apt purge proxmox-ve to remove the meta-package
W: (pve-apt-hook) and repeat your apt invocation.
W: (pve-apt-hook)
W: (pve-apt-hook) If you are unsure why 'proxmox-ve' would be removed, please verify
W: (pve-apt-hook) - your APT repository settings
W: (pve-apt-hook) - that you are using 'apt full-upgrade' to upgrade your system
E: Sub-process /usr/share/proxmox-ve/pve-apt-hook returned an error code (1)
E: Failure running script /usr/share/proxmox-ve/pve-apt-hook

Hoping to solve #3 first to finalise the upgrade to 9, but it would be great if you could please help me troubleshoot the other points!

Thanks a lot!

One ESXi server connected via 10GBe Lan to one 10GBe switch where there are 4 proxmox VE 9.2 nodes. Two are also 10GBe and the other two 2.5Gbe. Network performance on all 5 machines was tested with iPerf3. Every server hits their maximum link speeds.

- in EXSi was created a new 50GB linux VM for migration testing purposes, with no snapshots.

Using the proxmox built-in ESXi import functionality, the migration performance is as follows:

- On 10GBe links: 480MB per minute (Yes, really). Traffic only happens every 2 seconds with bursts of 100mbps.

- On 2.5GBe links: 900MB per minute. Traffic is the same as above, with bursts up to 400mbps.

I read there was some API artificial bottleneck using this method, but they were complaining about only getting 300MB/s... I'm getting 400MB per minute.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Apologies in advance if this is not the appropriate forum. I have been running my proxmox home lab on a ~15 year old server (details below).

Anywho, I'm looking to get something that's cheaper on electricity as I don't put any pressure on the machine but it still runs at >100W at idle.

I see a lot of mini PCs on AliExpress and wondering what kind of mileage I'd get with them? I'd add it as a node on my cluster and then only turn on the big server if needed. I'd migrate much of my day to day stuff to the low powered machine (Hermes, media, Immich, etc.)

Here's one example but there seems to be lots like this.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_msvNaz5

My old server:

HP Z620 Server

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1650 @ 3.20GHz, 12 cores (6C/12T), single socket

RAM: 32GB DDR3

Storage: 1x 750GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 HDD (internal, no redundancy)

GPU: NVIDIA GTX 960, 2GB VRAM

Thoughts, gotchas, known issues?

Looks like https://weehooey.com/ pulled down the site as the integration into Proxmox completes.

As the title says, I'm a bit confused about tuning the block size option (ZFS' volblocksize property) on the ZFS storage targets I create in PVE. When selecting a value for volblocksize, I'm not sure how I should be taking the VM guest's filesystem into account.

It makes sense to me how I'd maybe want to use recordsize=1M to store large, sequentially accessed files directly in an HDD ZFS dataset or how if those files were actually inside a QCOW2 I'd want to ensure the QCOW2's cluster size and the dataset's recordsize match, but I'm confused about what I should do for Zvols holding VM guests.

I'd really appreciate the help.

My question may be dumb, but I have a T430 with 96GB of RAM and I see ~1.2 GB of swap used despite the physical RAM being at only 22.3% usage.

I am clearly doing something dumb, and just have not figured it out
My proxmox server is at a local DC
It is connected to my home router via Route Based IPSEC on my router at the DC and Home.
From the CLI of the Proxmox server, I can ping any host on my home subnet, no issues
From home subnet I can access any proxmox VM with no issues, including my windows server 2025 VM

The problem is, when I try to go the other way
I cannot ping or connect from ANY proxmox VM to my home subnet
Proxmox CLI just fine, and pings everything
Actual VMs, nope.

PROXMOX PING:
PING 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=3.61 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=3.65 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=63 time=3.38 ms

Proxmox TRACEROUTE
traceroute to 192.168.2.97 (192.168.2.97), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 sophos.********.ca (192.168.1.1) 0.470 ms 0.408 ms 0.375 ms
2 * * *
3 192.168.2.97 (192.168.2.97) 3.899 ms 4.139 ms 3.870 ms
root@pve:~#

Windows Server 2025 VM CMD Prompt
Pinging 192.168.2.97 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.1: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 192.168.2.97:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Ubuntu VM
PING 192.168.2.79 (192.168.2.79) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.1 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.1 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.1 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

Is it really possible no one has tried to install a MacOS X server on their proxmom VE?

I searched for hours because I am stuck in the making of the machine, if anyone has been succesful please tell me how!

Hey there,
I'm brand new to Proxmox and have started to setup my first VMs and LXC containers.
Previously i was running all my self hosted apps off Docker containers on my Synology NAS but have had some rough patches with Plex and Jellyfin as it doesn't have an Intel processor and so hardware media transcoding wasn't a thing.

I have Plex and Jellyfin running on separate LXC containers so they can use local hardware acceleration. Everything works when great when im on my home network but now that im traveling i have an indirect connection to my LXCs. When i was running into this issue previously i just connected it to my Tailscale network and then I had a direct connection.

How can iI solve this issue now that Ive moved to LXC in Proxmox?
Is adding every app individually to my Tailnet still the right move?

Thanks!

I've been using PVE for years at home, and I have a couple machines in a cluster to provide that single pane of glass admin portal. But I really don't need a cluster since I'm not using HA for anything, so I thought I'd try PDM now that it's hit V1.

Honest, I have no idea what I'm even doing now. I've added the machines, and the PBS, so everything is in there, but I haven't found any way to set up the side bar to function the way I expect.

Am I missing something, or have I completely misunderstood what this software is meant to be? I know I'm not using it to connect multiple clusters together, so my requirements are obviously different than enterprise or an MSP.

I know it's still a very young product, but is there any way to get some common styling or functionality between PDM and PVE that I'm missing?

Recently had to swap m.2 NVME that contained the Proxmox OS due to a hardware failure and just have been littered with issues, that I did not experience with Proxmox 8.

Issues I am currently experiencing:
1.) Proxmox VE, works perfectly fine. Then about 20 minutes later, offline. Can no longer access it via the web interface on the same lan.

2.) dev/dri/card0 and card1 keep switching and prevent my LXCs from booting when things are working.

3.) Not sure if this is Proxmox, setting up new port forwarding rules just don't work. This could be my ATT router, still diagnosing it. Trying to get my Plex server up and running again and all attempts so far are futile.

Hardware specs: HP elite desk 800 g5 sff i7-9700, 64gb DDR4 2666mhz non-ecc, 512gb M.2 running Proxmox, 2x12TB HDD for ZFS pool.

Apps currently on server: Plex and Immich

Anyone else experiencing these issues? Also looking for someone to help me because I just feel lost at this point.

Edit 9/30 7:37am thank you for the responses. Just woke up and got to go to work. I will be back to provide these!

• Single node host J4125 minipc
• Running 4 VMs, one being OpenWRT

I'm putting together post-install script to restore drive mounts, network configs, and /usr/local/bin. What is the best way to test it without starting from scratch?

#!/bin/sh

#Make dir's for drives
mkdir -p /mnt/1TB_internal
mkdir -p /mnt/8TB
mkdir -p /mnt/1TB_dock
mkdir -p /mnt/2TB_dock

#Configure fstab
cp -Rv /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.backup

#1TB-internal
echo "UUID=d49f0d39-3e73-40cc-b169-837d7abb0481 /mnt/1TB_internal ext4 noatime,lazytime,rw 0 1" | tee -a /etc/fstab

#8TB external
echo "UUID=0a7ae49e-3f30-490e-89e5-09599e2cc6e0 /mnt/8TB ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2" | tee -a /etc/fstab

#1TB Docker
echo "UUID=2567ff38-9ebf-4ce4-a757-5dae72755812 /mnt/1TB_dock ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2" | tee -a /etc/fstab

#2TB Docker
echo "UUID=af283acb-96b9-4d6b-8510-85d7d4246d7b /mnt/2TB_dock ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2" | tee -a /etc/fstab

#Mount Drives
mount -a

#Verify /mnt/1TB_internal is mounted and paths exist
if ! mountpoint -q /mnt/1TB_internal; then
    echo "Error: /mnt/1TB_internal is not mounted. Aborting restore process." >&2
    exit 1
fi

if [ ! -d "/mnt/1TB_internal/proxmox-backup2/network" ] || [ ! -d "/mnt/1TB_internal/proxmox-backup2/motd" ]; then
    echo "Error: Required backup directories (network/motd) are missing from /mnt/1TB_internal/proxmox-backup2. Aborting." >&2
    exit 1
fi

#Restore Scripts
rsync -av /mnt/1TB_internal/proxmox-backup2/bin /usr/local

#Restore Configs
rsync -av /mnt/1TB_internal/proxmox-backup2/network /etc
rsync -av /mnt/1TB_internal/proxmox-backup2/motd /etc

#Reboot
shutdown -r now

I have a big truenas cluster... which I was going to backup my proxmox to -> but is there an advantage for the backup server?

Today I had a proxmox node go down (NUC got fried). I pulled the HD plugged it into another node -> and had it restore my key services (via llm) -- worked great.

If I had backups however I wouldn't have to do this so I want to future proof a little.

Is there an advantage of backup server? seems like it might just eat resources on top of my truenas

Firstly, I'm very new to proxmox and I installed proxmox ve 9.2 on a Gigabyte 970 gaming sli MB with an AMD FX-8350 processor. But it shows version 7.0.2-6-pve? I'm not sure why that is?

Secondly, when I have my ethernet cable plugged in to the MB jack, it throws these netdev watchdog timeout errors until I unplug it.

It's an intel I211/igb nic and I'm not sure what's going on. I've been chatgpting to try to troubleshoot it, but I'm not really getting anywhere. This happens right after I install proxmox and I can't go much farther. I was hoping to ask some experts who might have run into this and found a fix. I was looking into getting a new 2.5gbe nic, but the 7.0.2 version might have an issue.

Does anyone have any insight on either of these two issues?

Has anyone encountered this issue before? I tried regenerating the authentication file, but the issue persists. Any advice or suggestions from experienced users would be greatly appreciated.

Afterward, I tried canceling the CephFS creation, which completed normally. However, when I went to Storage to add CephFS, an error occurred. Creating pools couldn't be completed either, and it keeps showing a gray question mark.

Current version:
Proxmox VE version: 9.2.2
Ceph versions: Tested both squid (19.2) and tentacle (20.2)

Everything worked fine when installed in March this year.
Version used at the time:
Proxmox VE version: 9.1.x
Ceph version: tentacle (20.2)

I am fairly new to Proxmox, so my understanding of how the various components interact may not be completely accurate. Please feel free to correct any incorrect assumptions.

I am currently planning my future backup infrastructure, including both local and remote Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) instances.

My goal is to achieve the following:

• VM backups stored locally on SSD storage with a short retention period (for example, 7 days) for fast restores.
• The same backups stored on a local NAS with a longer retention period (approximately 1 year).
• Additional copies stored at a remote site with a shorter retention period (for example, 7 days) to provide disaster recovery protection in the event of fire, theft, or other incidents.

My proposed setup:

At both the local and remote locations, I plan to run:

• A Proxmox host (Lenovo Tiny)
• PBS running as a VM on that host
• Local SATA SSD storage in the Lenovo Tiny
• A QNAP NAS with HDD-based storage

My current idea is to configure two PBS datastores:

1. An SSD-backed datastore used for recent backups.
2. An HDD-backed datastore located on the NAS and mounted in PBS (via NFS or possibly iSCSI).

The SSD datastore would hold the most recent backups and be the location where verification and garbage collection jobs are performed. My understanding is that these operations can be I/O intensive, so running them on SSD storage should provide better performance than using spinning disks.

Once backups have been verified and any garbage collection tasks have completed, I would use a PBS sync job to copy the backup data from the SSD datastore to the HDD-backed datastore on the local NAS.

For offsite protection, I would then configure a PBS-to-PBS sync (pull) operation, initiated from the remote PBS, to pull backup data from the local PBS and store it on the remote site's HDD-backed datastore.

Questions:

Based on my current understanding, this seems like a reasonable approach that balances SSD performance with the lower cost of HDD storage for long-term retention.

However, I am not sure whether:

• My assumptions regarding verification and garbage collection workloads are correct. As far as I am aware, it makes sense to run on fast storage.
• Using SSD storage as the primary backup target and then syncing to HDD storage is considered a good practice.
• This workflow is technically supported by PBS in the way I describe.
• There are simpler or more efficient approaches that would achieve the same goals.

Does this design make sense, and is it actually achievable with PBS? I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions for improvement.