Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE)

Proxmox VE is a complete, open-source enterprise virtualization management platform. It tightly integrates KVM hypervisor and LXC containers, software-defined storage, and networking functionality on a single platform.

It is fundamentally a customized Debian Linux distribution with a powerful web-based graphical user interface.

Key Features

• Web GUI: Manage VMs, containers, storage, and networks entirely from a web browser. No need for complex command-line configuration.
• KVM and LXC: Choose the right tool for the job. Use KVM for full OS virtualization (Windows, other Linux distros) and LXC for lightweight Linux system containers.
• Clustering: Group multiple Proxmox physical servers together. You can manage them all from one interface and migrate VMs seamlessly between physical nodes.
• Built-in Backup: Comprehensive backup and restore functionality for VMs and containers out of the box.
• ZFS Support: Native support for the robust ZFS file system, offering features like data integrity checking, software RAID, and instant snapshots.

Why use Proxmox?

Proxmox is incredibly popular in home labs and small-to-medium businesses because it offers enterprise features (comparable to VMware ESXi) completely free of charge, without artificial licensing limitations on CPU sockets or memory.