Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE or PVE) is a free and open-source server virtualization platform developed by Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. It is based on Debian and combines Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) for hardware-assisted virtual machines with LXC for Linux system containers in a single management environment.
Management is available through a web interface, command-line tools and a REST API. The platform integrates clustering, high availability, software-defined networking, storage management, backup and restore, a distributed firewall and live migration. Proxmox VE uses a Proxmox-maintained Linux kernel based on the Ubuntu kernel.
Builds were limited to x86-64 until August 2026, when Proxmox released Proxmox VE 9.2 for Arm64 as its first officially supported build on a second processor architecture.
Proxmox VE is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3. The complete feature set can be used without purchasing a commercial subscription; Proxmox sells optional subscriptions that provide access to its enterprise package repository and, depending on the plan, vendor technical support.
History
Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH was founded in Vienna in 2005 by Martin Maurer and Dietmar Maurer. The developers' early virtualization work used OpenVZ, and KVM was incorporated as it became available in the Linux kernel. A 2010 LWN.net review identified the combination of KVM virtual machines and OpenVZ containers in one integrated system as a distinguishing feature of Proxmox VE at the time.
The first public release, version 0.9, was made on 15 April 2008, and the first stable 1.0 release followed in October 2008. Early releases provided a bare-metal Debian-based installation and a web interface for managing both KVM and OpenVZ guests.
Proxmox VE 2.0, released in 2012, introduced a redesigned cluster stack using Corosync, a REST API, live snapshots and a new web interface, and changed the project license from GPLv2 to AGPLv3. Version 3.x added VM templates, cloning, SPICE console access, Ceph integration, a firewall and ZFS support.
Version 4.0 replaced OpenVZ with LXC and introduced a redesigned high-availability manager. Version 5.0 introduced a built-in storage-replication stack, and version 5.1 integrated Ceph management for hyper-converged deployments. Version 7.3, released in November 2022, added initial support for a cluster resource scheduler and support for updating air-gapped systems using the new Proxmox Offline Mirror tool. Version 8.1, released in November 2023, added a software-defined networking stack and Secure Boot compatibility.
Releases since 2024
Proxmox VE 8.2, released in April 2024, added an integrated wizard for importing virtual machines from VMware ESXi, an unattended automated installation mechanism and backup fleecing, in which temporary local storage reduces the effect of slow backup storage on a running VM. Version 8.3 expanded OVF and OVA import through the web interface, and version 8.4, released in April 2025, added live migration for running VMs using supported mediated devices such as NVIDIA vGPU, an API for third-party backup providers, and virtiofs directory sharing between host and guest.
Proxmox VE 9.0 was released in August 2025 and moved the base system to Debian 13 "Trixie". It added snapshots for thick-provisioned shared LVM storage, including Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN configurations, software-defined-networking fabrics, high-availability resource-affinity rules and a redesigned mobile interface. Version 9.1 added support for using Open Container Initiative images as templates for LXC containers.
Version 9.2, released in May 2026, introduced a dynamic cluster load balancer, additional SDN features including WireGuard- and BGP-based fabrics, graphical management of custom CPU models, and the ability to disarm and re-arm the high-availability manager cluster-wide during planned maintenance, which suspends HA actions such as node fencing while preserving resource states so that guests return to their previous state and placement afterwards. The release is based on Debian 13.5, with Linux kernel 7.0 as the stable default, QEMU 11, LXC 7 and ZFS 2.4.
In July 2026 Proxmox announced a collaboration with NVIDIA under which Proxmox VE joined the NVIDIA Mission Control partner ecosystem, providing a high-availability virtualization layer for the management services of large accelerated-computing deployments rather than hosting accelerated workloads directly. The company said Proxmox VE was being engineered to support the bring-up of NVIDIA's Grace and Vera CPU architectures.
In August 2026 Proxmox published Proxmox VE 9.2 for Arm64, which shares its code base, package repositories and release lifecycle with the x86-64 build. Officially supported hardware at launch was limited to systems using the NVIDIA Grace and Vera architectures, developed in collaboration with NVIDIA and Supermicro, with other UEFI-based Armv8-A and Armv9-A systems supported on a best-effort basis. Live migration is not supported between nodes of different architectures.
Features
Virtual machines and containers
Proxmox VE supports two forms of virtualization. KVM, together with QEMU, provides hardware-assisted virtual machines capable of running Linux, Windows and other operating systems. On x86 systems, hardware virtualization extensions such as Intel VT-x or AMD-V are required for accelerated KVM virtualization.
LXC provides operating-system-level virtualization for Linux guests. Containers share the host kernel and generally require fewer resources than full virtual machines, but they are limited to Linux userspace environments compatible with the host kernel. Beginning with Proxmox VE 9.1, OCI images can be downloaded from registries or uploaded and used as templates for LXC containers; depending on the image, Proxmox can provision them as system or application containers.
OpenVZ (legacy)
Through Proxmox VE 3.4, OpenVZ was used for container virtualization. OpenVZ containers shared a single host kernel and supported only Linux guests. Version 4.0 replaced OpenVZ with LXC, and upgrade tools were provided to convert existing OpenVZ containers.
Management interfaces
The principal management interface is a web application available on each Proxmox VE node. Most administrative functions are also exposed through command-line tools and a REST API. Proxmox also provides a mobile application for managing PVE environments. Version 9.0 introduced a redesigned mobile web interface.
The ISO installer provides graphical and text-based installation interfaces. Automated installation from the ISO was introduced in Proxmox VE 8.2 using answer files and related tooling.
Storage
Proxmox VE supports local and shared storage through a plugin-based storage subsystem. Documented back ends include directory storage, LVM and LVM-thin, ZFS, NFS, CIFS/SMB, iSCSI, Ceph RBD and CephFS, and Proxmox Backup Server storage. Btrfs is also documented, with parts of its integration designated a technology preview.
Virtual disks can be stored as raw volumes or in file formats such as qcow2, depending on the selected storage back end. Proxmox VE can manage ZFS locally and can deploy and administer Ceph storage as part of a hyper-converged cluster. Version 9.0 added snapshot support for thick-provisioned shared LVM storage, including configurations backed by iSCSI or Fibre Channel SANs. Version 9.2 made Ceph Tentacle (20.2) available as a stable option alongside Ceph Squid (19.2).
Networking and firewall
Networking can be configured through Linux bridges, bonding, VLANs and a software-defined networking stack. The SDN system supports centrally managed zones and virtual networks, with later releases adding EVPN, OSPF, BGP and WireGuard-based capabilities.
Proxmox VE includes a distributed firewall that can be configured at datacenter, host and guest levels. The established firewall implementation is based on iptables; Proxmox VE 8.2 introduced an alternative nftables-based implementation as a technology preview.
Clustering and high availability
Multiple Proxmox VE servers can be joined into a cluster. Cluster communication and membership use Corosync, while configuration data is replicated through the Proxmox Cluster File System (pmxcfs), a FUSE-based distributed configuration database.
The integrated high-availability manager can monitor configured VMs and containers and restart them on another node when a node fails. Ceph can be deployed as shared distributed storage for cluster guests, while ZFS replication can be used for asynchronous replication of guest volumes between nodes.
The cluster resource scheduler gained resource-affinity and anti-affinity rules in version 9.0. Version 9.2 added a dynamic mode that uses node and guest resource utilization to rebalance HA-managed workloads by live-migrating guests while respecting configured HA rules, and allows the HA manager to be disarmed cluster-wide for planned maintenance.
Live migration and import
Proxmox VE supports live migration of running virtual machines between nodes in a cluster. Depending on the storage configuration, migration can either use shared storage or move local virtual disks between nodes. Version 8.4 added live migration for VMs using supported mediated devices when compatible hardware and drivers are present on both source and destination nodes.
An integrated import wizard added in version 8.2 can connect to VMware ESXi as an import source and map much of an imported VM's configuration to the Proxmox VE configuration model. Later releases expanded OVF and OVA import through the web interface. Cross-cluster live migration is available through Proxmox Datacenter Manager for managed Proxmox VE environments.
Backup and restore
Proxmox VE includes the vzdump backup utility for backing up virtual machines and containers and supports scheduled backup jobs through the web interface and command line. It integrates directly with Proxmox Backup Server (PBS), which provides deduplicated incremental backup storage, encryption, retention policies, verification and restore functionality. Proxmox VE 8.4 also introduced an API intended for integration by third-party backup providers.
Authentication and security
Authentication realms can use Proxmox VE's internal user database, PAM, LDAP, Active Directory or OpenID Connect. Role-based permissions can be assigned to users, groups and API tokens. Multi-factor authentication options include TOTP, WebAuthn and YubiKey OTP. Secure Boot support was added in Proxmox VE 8.1.
Console and hardware passthrough
Graphical VM consoles are available through SPICE and an HTML5 implementation of VNC (noVNC), with access proxied through the host's authenticated web service. Proxmox VE supports PCIe device passthrough to virtual machines using IOMMU functionality such as Intel VT-d or AMD-Vi. The web interface has supported configuring PCIe passthrough since the 5.x series.
Virtual appliances
Proxmox VE can download pre-built Linux container templates through the management interface, allowing administrators to create containers from prepared operating-system images. Earlier versions distributed OpenVZ-based virtual appliance templates in the same way.
VMware migration and adoption
Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware on 22 November 2023. VMware subsequently transitioned its portfolio away from perpetual licensing toward subscription licensing and consolidated many products into a smaller number of bundled offerings. The free edition of VMware's vSphere Hypervisor, commonly known as ESXi, was also discontinued.