Proxmox Virtual Environment
Proxmox Virtual Environment (also known by its acronym PVE; alternatively known as ProxmoxVE, Proxmox VE, or, simply, Proxmox; hereinafter, #PVE) is an open-source platform for virtualization and containerization.
First and foremost, #PVE can be used to create compute instances, both virtual machines (VMs) and containers. With #PVE, one can (a) manage those compute instances, (b) allocate resources such as CPU, RAM, and storage to them, and (c) deploy applications and services in a scalable and flexible manner from a single web-based interface.
To function, #PVE requires at least one physical server. Moreover, #PVE allows for setting up and managing a cluster of physical servers. When those servers act as nodes in your cloud infrastructure, #PVE creates a cloud environment.
Contents
Features
#PVE supports features that are particularly essential for building a cloud environment.
Virtualization
- #PVE supports both full virtualization (using KVM) and container-based virtualization (using LXC), allowing you to run a wide range of operating systems and applications.
High Availability
- #PVE includes features for high availability, such as live migration and automatic failover, which help ensure the availability of your cloud services.
Storage Management
- #PVE supports different storage types and technologies, including local storage, networked storage (such as NFS, iSCSI, and Ceph), and software-defined storage solutions, allowing you to efficiently manage storage resources in your cloud environment.
Networking
- #PVE provides flexible networking options, including support for virtual LANs (VLANs), bridges, and software-defined networking (SDN), enabling you to create complex network topologies and securely isolate different parts of your cloud infrastructure.
Resource Management
- #PVE allows allocating and managing compute resources (CPU, RAM) and storage resources (disk space, IOPS) for your virtual machines and containers, ensuring optimal performance and resource utilization.
Types of virtualization
ProxmoxVE offers two types of virtualization:
- LXC. Initially, it was based on a Docker; it is still close to what the Docker was in 2020. The Docker changed since then. With LXC containers, you can create your own template container and whenever you need, you just deploy that template.
- KVM. Usually, used for Windows.
VE has an API and between API and bash scripting, the deployment might be automatic.
By leveraging these features, you can use Proxmox VE to create a cloud environment tailored to your specific requirements, whether it's for hosting websites and web applications, running development and testing environments, or deploying enterprise-grade infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solutions.
