{pve} is simple. There is no need to install a separate management tool, and everything can be done through your web browser (Latest Firefox or Google Chrome is preferred). A built-in HTML5 console is used to access the guest console. As an alternative, SPICE can be used.
Because we use the Proxmox cluster file system (pmxcfs), you can connect to any node to manage the entire cluster. Each node can manage the entire cluster. There is no need for a dedicated manager node.
You can use the web-based administration interface with any modern browser. When {pve} detects that you are connecting from a mobile device, you are redirected to a simpler, touch-based user interface.
The web interface can be reached via https://youripaddress:8006 (default login is: root, and the password is specified during the installation process).
-
Seamless integration and management of {pve} clusters
-
AJAX technologies for dynamic updates of resources
-
Secure access to all Virtual Machines and Containers via SSL encryption (https)
-
Fast search-driven interface, capable of handling hundreds and probably thousands of VMs
-
Secure HTML5 console or SPICE
-
Role based permission management for all objects (VMs, storages, nodes, etc.)
-
Support for multiple authentication sources (e.g. local, MS ADS, LDAP, …)
-
Two-Factor Authentication (OATH, Yubikey)
-
Based on ExtJS 6.x JavaScript framework
When you connect to the server, you will first see the login window. {pve} supports various authentication backends (Realm), and you can select the language here. The GUI is translated to more than 20 languages.
|
Note
|
You can save the user name on the client side by selecting the checkbox at the bottom. This saves some typing when you login next time. |
The {pve} user interface consists of four regions.
| Header |
On top. Shows status information and contains buttons for most important actions. |
| Resource Tree |
At the left side. A navigation tree where you can select specific objects. |
| Content Panel |
Center region. Selected objects display configuration options and status here. |
| Log Panel |
At the bottom. Displays log entries for recent tasks. You can double-click on those log entries to get more details, or to abort a running task. |
|
Note
|
You can shrink and expand the size of the resource tree and log panel, or completely hide the log panel. This can be helpful when you work on small displays and want more space to view other content. |
On the top left side, the first thing you see is the Proxmox logo. Next to it is the current running version of {pve}. In the search bar nearside you can search for specific objects (VMs, containers, nodes, …). This is sometimes faster than selecting an object in the resource tree.
To the right of the search bar we see the identity (login name). The gear symbol is a button opening the My Settings dialog. There you can customize some client side user interface setting (reset the saved login name, reset saved layout).
The rightmost part of the header contains four buttons:
| Help |
Opens a new browser window showing the reference documentation. |
| Create VM |
Opens the virtual machine creation wizard. |
| Create CT |
Open the container creation wizard. |
| Logout |
Logout, and show the login dialog again. |
The My Settings window allows you to set locally stored settings. These include the Dashboard Storages which allow you to enable or disable specific storages to be counted towards the total amount visible in the datacenter summary. If no storage is checked the total is the sum of all storages, same as enabling every single one.
Below the dashboard settings you find the stored user name and a button to clear it as well as a button to reset every layout in the GUI to its default.
On the right side there are xterm.js Settings. These contain the following options:
| Font-Family |
The font to be used in xterm.js (e.g. Arial). |
| Font-Size |
The preferred font size to be used. |
| Letter Spacing |
Increases or decreases spacing between letters in text. |
| Line Height |
Specify the absolute height of a line. |
This is the main navigation tree. On top of the tree you can select some predefined views, which changes the structure of the tree below. The default view is Server View, and it shows the following object types:
| Datacenter |
Contains cluster wide setting (relevant for all nodes). |
| Node |
Represents the hosts inside a cluster, where the guests runs. |
| Guest |
VMs, Containers and Templates. |
| Storage |
Data Storage. |
| Pool |
It is possible to group guests using a pool to simplify management. |
The following view types are available:
| Server View |
Shows all kind of objects, grouped by nodes. |
| Folder View |
Shows all kind of objects, grouped by object type. |
| Storage View |
Only show storage objects, grouped by nodes. |
| Pool View |
Show VMs and Containers, grouped by pool. |
The main purpose of the log panel is to show you what is currently going on in your cluster. Actions like creating an new VM are executed in background, and we call such background job a task.
Any output from such task is saved into a separate log file. You can view that log by simply double-click a task log entry. It is also possible to abort a running task there.
Please note that we display most recent tasks from all cluster nodes here. So you can see when somebody else is working on another cluster node in real-time.
|
Note
|
We remove older and finished task from the log panel to keep that list short. But you can still find those tasks in the Task History within the node panel. |
Some short running actions simply sends logs to all cluster members. You can see those messages in the Cluster log panel.
When you select something in the resource tree, the corresponding object displays configuration and status information in the content panel. The following sections give a brief overview of the functionality. Please refer to the individual chapters inside the reference documentation to get more detailed information.
On the datacenter level you can access cluster wide settings and information.
-
Search: it is possible to search anything in cluster ,this can be a node, VM, Container, Storage or a pool.
-
Summary: gives a brief overview over the cluster health.
-
Cluster: allows to create/join cluster and shows join information.
-
Options: can show and set defaults, which apply cluster wide.
-
Storage: is the place where a storage will add/managed/removed.
-
Backup: has the capability to schedule Backups. This is cluster wide, so you do not care about where the VM/Container are on your cluster at schedule time.
-
Replication: shows replication jobs and allows to create new ones.
-
Permissions: will manage user and group permission, LDAP, MS-AD and Two-Factor authentication can be setup here.
-
HA: will manage the {pve} High-Availability
-
Firewall: on this level the Proxmox Firewall works cluster wide and makes templates which are cluster wide available.
-
Support: here you get all information about your support subscription.
If you like to have more information about this see the corresponding chapter.
Nodes in your cluster can be managed invidiually at this level.
The top header has useful buttons such as Reboot, Shutdown, Shell, Bulk Actions and Help. Shell has the options noVNC, SPICE and xterm.js. Bulk Actions has the options Bulk Start, Bulk Stop and Bulk Migrate.
-
Search: it is possible to search anything on the node, this can be a VM, Container, Storage or a pool.
-
Summary: gives a brief overview over the resource usage.
-
Notes: is where custom notes about a node can be written.
-
Shell: logs you into the shell of the node.
-
System: is for configuring the network, DNS and time, and also shows your syslog.
-
Updates: will upgrade the system and inform you about new packages.
-
Firewall: on this level is only for this node.
-
Disks: gives you a brief overview about you physical hard drives and how they are used.
-
Ceph: is only used if you have installed a Ceph server on your host. Then you can manage your Ceph cluster and see the status of it here.
-
Replication: shows replication jobs and allows to create new ones.
-
Task History: here all past tasks are shown.
-
Subscription: here you can upload you subscription key and get a system overview in case of a support case.
There are two different kinds of guests and both can be converted to a template. One of them is a Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and the other one a Linux Container (LXC). Generally the navigation is the same, only some options are different.
In the main management center the VM navigation begins if a VM is selected in the left tree.
The top header contains important VM operation commands like Start, Shutdown, Reset, Remove, Migrate, Console and Help. Some of them have hidden buttons like Shutdown has Stop and Console contains the different console types SPICE, noVNC and xterm.js.
On the right side the content switches depending on the selected option.
On the left side. All available options are listed one below the other.
-
Summary: gives a brief overview over the VM activity.
-
Console: an interactive console to your VM.
-
(KVM)Hardware: shows and set the Hardware of the KVM VM.
-
(LXC)Resources: defines the LXC Hardware opportunities.
-
(LXC)Network: the LXC Network settings.
-
(LXC)DNS: the LXC DNS settings.
-
Options: all guest options can be set here.
-
Task History: here all previous tasks from the selected guest will be shown.
-
(KVM) Monitor: is the interactive communication interface to the KVM process.
-
Backup: shows the available backups from the selected guest and also create a backupset.
-
Replication: shows the replication jobs for the selected guest and allows to create new jobs.
-
Snapshots: manage VM snapshots.
-
Firewall: manage the firewall on VM level.
-
Permissions: manage the user permission for the selected guest.
In this view we have a two partition split-view. On the left side we have the storage options and on the right side the content of the selected option will be shown.
-
Summary: shows important information about storages like Usage, Type, Content, Active and Enabled.
-
Content: Here all content will be listed grouped by content type.
-
Permissions: manage the user permission for this storage.
In this view we have a two partition split view. On the left side we have the logical pool options and on the right side the content of the selected option will be shown.
-
Summary: show the description of the pool.
-
Members: Here all members of this pool will listed and can be managed.
-
Permissions: manage the user permission for this pool.