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proxmox virtualization container homelab

Proxmox VE

The most important Proxmox commands for VMs, containers, cluster, storage, and more.

Docker Mode

Prepends docker exec <container> to all commands.

Virtual Machines (VMs)

List all VMs

qm list

Start a VM

qm start <vmid>

Stop a VM (graceful)

qm shutdown <vmid>

Stop a VM (hard)

qm stop <vmid>

Restart a VM

qm reboot <vmid>

Show VM configuration

qm config <vmid>

Delete a VM

qm destroy <vmid>

Clone a VM

qm clone <vmid> <new-vmid> --name <name> --full

Convert VM to template

qm template <vmid>

Connect to VM console (via QEMU agent)

qm terminal <vmid>

Containers (LXC)

List all containers

pct list

Start a container

pct start <ctid>

Stop a container

pct stop <ctid>

Restart a container

pct reboot <ctid>

Show container configuration

pct config <ctid>

Delete a container

pct destroy <ctid>

Enter container shell

pct enter <ctid>

Clone a container

pct clone <ctid> <new-ctid> --hostname <name>

Snapshots

Create VM snapshot

qm snapshot <vmid> <snapname> --description "<description>"

Restore VM snapshot

qm rollback <vmid> <snapname>

List VM snapshots

qm listsnapshot <vmid>

Delete VM snapshot

qm delsnapshot <vmid> <snapname>

Create container snapshot

pct snapshot <ctid> <snapname>

Restore container snapshot

pct rollback <ctid> <snapname>

Backup & Restore

Manually back up a VM/CT

vzdump <vmid> --storage <storage> --mode snapshot --compress zstd

Restore backup (VM)

qmrestore <backup-file> <vmid> --storage <storage>

Restore backup (CT)

pct restore <ctid> <backup-file> --storage <storage>

List all backups

vzdump --list

Storage

Show storage overview

pvesm status

List available images/volumes

pvesm list <storage>

Import disk image (e.g. .qcow2)

qm importdisk <vmid> <image-file> <storage>

Show thin-pool status (LVM)

lvs

Cluster

Show cluster status

pvecm status

List all nodes

pvecm nodes

Remove node from cluster

pvecm delnode <nodename>

Show Corosync log

journalctl -u corosync -f

Networking

Show network configuration

cat /etc/network/interfaces

Reload network config (without reboot)

ifreload -a

Show bridge interfaces

brctl show

Show Open vSwitch status

ovs-vsctl show

Nodes & System

Show node status

pvesh get /nodes/<nodename>/status

Show resource usage (CPU, RAM, Disk)

pvesh get /nodes/<nodename>/rrddata --timeframe hour

Show Proxmox version

pveversion -v

Update Proxmox packages

apt update && apt dist-upgrade

Show subscription status

pvesubscription get

Show high availability (HA) status

ha-manager status

Certificates

Order Let’s Encrypt certificate

pvenode acme cert order

Renew certificate

pvenode acme cert renew

List ACME accounts

pvenode acme account list

Hardware Configuration (LXC Containers)

Change CPU cores

pct set <ctid> --cores <n>

Set CPU limit (share of CPU time, 0 = unlimited)

pct set <ctid> --cpulimit <n>

Set CPU units (relative weight)

pct set <ctid> --cpuunits <n>

Change RAM (in MB)

pct set <ctid> --memory <mb>

Change swap (in MB)

pct set <ctid> --swap <mb>

Add network interface

pct set <ctid> --net<n> name=eth<n>,bridge=<bridge>,ip=<ip/cidr>,gw=<gateway>

Remove network interface

pct set <ctid> --delete net<n>

Show current container configuration

pct config <ctid>

Hardware Configuration (VMs)

Change CPU configuration (cores, sockets, type)

qm set <vmid> --cores <n> --sockets <n> --cpu <type>

Change RAM (in MB)

qm set <vmid> --memory <mb>

Adjust balloon memory (dynamic)

qm set <vmid> --balloon <mb>

Add network interface

qm set <vmid> --net<n> virtio,bridge=<bridge>

Remove network interface

qm set <vmid> --delete net<n>

Add PCI device for passthrough

qm set <vmid> --hostpci<n> <pci-id>,pcie=1

Add USB device for passthrough

qm set <vmid> --usb<n> host=<vendor-id>:<product-id>

Remove PCI/USB passthrough device

qm set <vmid> --delete hostpci<n>
qm set <vmid> --delete usb<n>

List available PCI devices on host

lspci -nn

Show IOMMU groups

find /sys/kernel/iommu_groups/ -type l | sort -V

Disk Resize

Resize VM disk (Proxmox side)

qm resize <vmid> <disk> +<size>G

Show current disk size of a VM

qm config <vmid> | grep -E '^(scsi|virtio|ide|sata)'

Resize LXC container disk

pct resize <ctid> rootfs +<size>G

Extend partition in guest (Linux, after VM resize)

growpart /dev/<disk> <partition-number>

Extend filesystem — ext4

resize2fs /dev/<partition>

Extend filesystem — xfs

xfs_growfs /

Extend filesystem — LVM (PV + LV + FS)

pvresize /dev/<disk>
lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/<vg>/<lv>
resize2fs /dev/<vg>/<lv>

Check disk usage in guest

df -h

Logs & Diagnostics

Follow Proxmox daemon log

journalctl -u pvedaemon -f

Show task log for a VM

pvesh get /nodes/<nodename>/tasks --vmid <vmid>

Show all running tasks

pvesh get /cluster/tasks

Check network connectivity to node

pvecm ping <nodename>
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