Proxmox Cheatsheet
This page presents a list of commonly used commands for Proxmox.
Commands
VM Management
Basics
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List VMs
qm list
Create or restore a virtual machine.
qm create <vmid>
Create or restore a virtual machine with core, memory, disks specified.
qm create <vmid> --name <vm-name> --cores <number-of-cores> --memory <memory-size-in-bytes> --scsi0 file=<vg-name>:<size-in-gb> --cdrom local:<iso-name> --net0 virtio,bridge=<bridge-name>
Start a VM
qm start <vmid>
Suspend virtual machine.
qm suspend <vmid>
Shutdown a VM
qm shutdown <vmid>
Reboot a VM
qm reboot <vmid>
Reset a VM
qm reset <vmid>
Stop a VM
qm stop <vmid>
Destroy the VM and all used/owned volumes.
Note: Removes any VM specific permissions and firewall rules
qm destroy <vmid>
Enter Qemu Monitor interface.
qm monitor <vmid>
Get the virtual machine configuration with both current and pending values.
qm pending <vmid>
Send key event to virtual machine.
qm sendkey <vmid> <key> [OPTIONS]
Show command line which is used to start the VM (debug info).
qm showcmd <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Unlock the VM.
qm unlock <vmid>
Clone a VM
qm clone <vmid> <newid>
Clone a VM in full clone mode and also set the name.
qm clone <vmid> <newid> --full --name <name>
Migrate a VM
qm migrate <vmid> <target-node>
Show VM status
qm status <vmid>
Clean up resources for a VM
qm cleanup <vmid> <clean-shutdown> <guest-requested>
Create a Template.
qm template <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Set virtual machine options (synchrounous API)
qm set <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Cloudinit
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Get automatically generated cloudinit config.
qm cloudinit dump <vmid> <type>
Get the cloudinit configuration with both current and pending values.
qm cloudinit pending <vmid>
Regenerate and change cloudinit config drive.
qm cloudinit update <vmid>
Disk
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Import an external disk image as an unused disk in a VM.
Note: The image format has to be supported by qemu-img(1).
qm disk import <vmid> <source> <storage>
Move volume to different storage or to a different VM.
qm disk move <vmid> <disk> [<storage>] [OPTIONS]
Rescan all storages and update disk sizes and unused disk images.
qm disk rescan [OPTIONS]
Extend volume size.
qm disk resize <vmid> <disk> <size> [OPTIONS]
Unlink/delete disk images.
qm disk unlink <vmid> --idlist <string> [OPTIONS]
Rescan volumes
qm rescan
Snapshot
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List all snapshots.
qm listsnapshot <vmid>
Snapshot a VM
qm snapshot <vmid> <snapname>
Delete a snapshot.
qm delsnapshot <vmid> <snapname>
Rollback a snapshot
qm rollback <vmid> <snapname>
Open a terminal using a serial device
(The VM need to have a serial device configured, for example serial0: socket)
qm terminal <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Proxy VM VNC traffic to stdin/stdout
qm vncproxy <vmid>
Others
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Execute Qemu Guest Agent commands.
qm guest cmd <vmid> <command>
Executes the given command via the guest agent
qm guest exec <vmid> [<extra-args>] [OPTIONS]
Gets the status of the given pid started by the guest-agent
qm guest exec-status <vmid> <pid>
Sets the password for the given user to the given password
qm guest passwd <vmid> <username> [OPTIONS]
PV, VG & LV Management
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Create a PV
pvcreate <disk-device-name>
Remove a PV
pvremove <disk-device-name>
List all PVs
pvs
Create a VG
vgcreate <vg-name> <disk-device-name>
Remove a VG
vgremove <vg-name>
List all VGs
vgs
Create a LV
lvcreate -L <lv-size> -n <lv-name> <vg-name>
Remove a LV
lvremove <vg-name>/<lv-name>
List all LVs
lvs
Storage Management
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Create a new storage.
pvesm add <type> <storage> [OPTIONS]
Allocate disk images.
pvesm alloc <storage> <vmid> <filename> <size> [OPTIONS]
Delete volume
pvesm free <volume> [OPTIONS]
Delete storage configuration.
pvesm remove <storage>
List storage content.
pvesm list <storage> [OPTIONS]
An alias for pvesm scan lvm.
pvesm lvmscan
An alias for pvesm scan lvmthin.
pvesm lvmthinscan
List local LVM volume groups.
pvesm scan lvm
List local LVM Thin Pools.
pvesm scan lvmthin <vg>
Get status for all datastores.
pvesm status [OPTIONS]
Template Management
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List All Templates
pveam available
List All Templates
pveam list <storage>
Download Appliance Templates
pveam download <storage> <template>
Remove a Template
pveam remove <template-path>
Update Container Template Database.
pveam update
Container Management
Basics
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List Containers
pct list
Create or Restore a Container
pct create <vmid> <ostemplate> [OPTIONS]
Start the Container
pct start <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Create a Container Clone/Copy
pct clone <vmid> <newid> [OPTIONS]
Suspend the Container - This is Experimental
pct suspend <vmid>
Resume the Container
pct resume <vmid>
Stop the Container
This will abruptly stop all processes running in the container.
pct stop <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Shutdown the Container
This will trigger a clean shutdown of the container, see lxc-stop(1) for details
pct shutdown <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Destroy the Container (Also Delete All Uses Files)
pct destroy <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Show CT Status
pct status <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Migrate the Container to Another Node. Creates a New Bigration Task
pct migrate <vmid> <target> [OPTIONS]
Get Container Configuration
pct config <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Print the List of Assigned CPU Sets
pct cpusets
Get Container Configuration, Including Pending Changes
pct pending <vmid>
Reboot the Container by Shutting it Down, and Starting it Again. Applies Pending Changes.
pct reboot <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Create or Restore a Container
pct restore <vmid> <ostemplate> [OPTIONS]
Set Container Options
pct set <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Create a Template.
pct template <vmid>
Unlock the VM.
pct unlock <vmid>
Disk
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Get the Container’s Current Disk Usage
pct df <vmid>
Run a Filesystem Check (fsck) on a Container Volume
pct fsck <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Run fstrim on a Chosen CT and Its Mountpoints
pct fstrim <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Mount the Container’s Filesystem on the Host
This will hold a lock on the container and is meant for emergency maintenance only
as it will prevent further operations on the container other than start and stop.
pct mount <vmid>
Move a rootfs-/mp-Volume to a Different Storage or to a Different Container
pct move-volume <vmid> <volume> [<storage>] [<target-vmid>] [<target-volume>] [OPTIONS]
Unmount the Container’s Filesystem
pct unmount <vmid>
Resize a Container Mount Point
pct resize <vmid> <disk> <size> [OPTIONS]
Rescan All Storages and Update Disk Sizes and Unused Disk Images
pct rescan [OPTIONS]
Launch a Console for the Specified Container
pct console <vmid> [OPTIONS]
Launch a Shell for the Specified Container
pct enter <vmid>
Launch a Command Inside the Specified Container
pct exec <vmid> [<extra-args>]
Copy a File from the Container to the Local System
pct pull <vmid> <path> <destination> [OPTIONS]
Copy a Local File to the Container
pct push <vmid> <file> <destination> [OPTIONS]
Snapshot
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Snapshot a Container
pct snapshot <vmid> <snapname> [OPTIONS]
List all Snapshots
pct listsnapshot <vmid>
Rollback LXC State to Specified Snapshot
pct rollback <vmid> <snapname> [OPTIONS]
Delete a LXC Snapshot
pct delsnapshot <vmid> <snapname> [OPTIONS]
Web GUI
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# Restart Web GUI
service pveproxy restart
Important File/Dir Path
PVE
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/etc/pve/authkey.pub Public key used by the ticket system
/etc/pve/ceph.conf Ceph configuration file (note: /etc/ceph/ceph.conf is a symbolic link to this)
/etc/pve/corosync.conf Corosync cluster configuration file (prior to Proxmox VE 4.x, this file was called cluster.conf)
/etc/pve/datacenter.cfg Proxmox VE data center-wide configuration (keyboard layout, proxy, …)
/etc/pve/domains.cfg Proxmox VE authentication domains
/etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw Firewall configuration applied to all nodes
/etc/pve/firewall/<NAME>.fw Firewall configuration for individual nodes
/etc/pve/firewall/<VMID>.fw Firewall configuration for VMs and containers
/etc/pve/ha/crm_commands Displays HA operations that are currently being carried out by the CRM
/etc/pve/ha/manager_status JSON-formatted information regarding HA services on the cluster
/etc/pve/ha/resources.cfg Resources managed by high availability, and their current state
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/config Node-specific configuration
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/lxc/<VMID>.conf VM configuration data for LXC containers
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/openvz/ Prior to PVE 4.0, used for container configuration data (deprecated, removed soon)
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/pve-ssl.key Private SSL key for pve-ssl.pem
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/pve-ssl.pem Public SSL certificate for web server (signed by cluster CA)
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/pveproxy-ssl.key Private SSL key for pveproxy-ssl.pem (optional)
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/pveproxy-ssl.pem Public SSL certificate (chain) for web server (optional override for pve-ssl.pem)
/etc/pve/nodes/<NAME>/qemu-server/<VMID>.conf VM configuration data for KVM VMs
/etc/pve/priv/authkey.key Private key used by ticket system
/etc/pve/priv/authorized_keys SH keys of cluster members for authentication
/etc/pve/priv/ceph* Ceph authentication keys and associated capabilities
/etc/pve/priv/known_hosts SSH keys of the cluster members for verification
/etc/pve/priv/lock/* Lock files used by various services to ensure safe cluster-wide operations
/etc/pve/priv/pve-root-ca.key Private key of cluster CA
/etc/pve/priv/shadow.cfg Shadow password file for PVE Realm users
/etc/pve/priv/storage/<STORAGE-ID>.pw Contains the password of a storage in plain text
/etc/pve/priv/tfa.cfg Base64-encoded two-factor authentication configuration
/etc/pve/priv/token.cfg API token secrets of all tokens
/etc/pve/pve-root-ca.pem Public certificate of cluster CA
/etc/pve/pve-www.key Private key used for generating CSRF tokens
/etc/pve/sdn/* Shared configuration files for Software Defined Networking (SDN)
/etc/pve/status.cfg Proxmox VE external metrics server configuration
/etc/pve/storage.cfg Proxmox VE storage configuration
/etc/pve/user.cfg Proxmox VE access control configuration (users/groups/…)
/etc/pve/virtual-guest/cpu-models.conf For storing custom CPU models
/etc/pve/vzdump.cron Cluster-wide vzdump backup-job schedule
Debug
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/etc/pve/.version File Versions (to detect file modifications)
/etc/pve/.members Info about Cluster Members
/etc/pve/.vmlist List of all VMs
/etc/pve/.clusterlog Cluster Log (last 50 entries)
/etc/pve/.rrd RRD Data (most recent entries)
OpenVZ Section
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/etc/vz/conf/xxx.conf config
/var/lib/vz/root/xxx data
/var/lib/vz/template/cache template
/var/lib/vz/dump snapshot
/etc/vz/vz.conf OpenVZ config
KVM Section
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/var/lib/vz/images/xxx data
/var/lib/vz/template/iso template
/var/lib/vz/dump snapshot
LXC Section
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/var/lib/lxc/xxx/config config
/var/lib/vz/images/xxx data
/var/lib/vz/template/cache template
/var/lib/vz/dump snapshot
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