Managing Proxmox subscription licenses at scale has always been a bit of a challenge. Especially in enterprise environments, where automation is key and time is limited, having to manually assign or import licenses one by one quickly becomes inefficient and error-prone. Imagine spinning up over 200 new nodes at different locations in a fully automated deployment pipeline – yet still needing to stop and interact manually just to apply a license on each system. It breaks the flow and adds an unnecessary operational burden, often requiring custom scripts or manual intervention that defeat the purpose of automation.

Until now, there wasn’t a straightforward, API driven and supported way to integrate subscription management directly into your Ansible workflows. That’s exactly the problem my new proxmox_node module aims to solve. Recently merged (new module: proxmox_node for managing a Proxmox VE node #129) into the upstream community.proxmox Ansible collection, this module introduces a clean and structured approach to managing Proxmox nodes, starting with the long-awaited ability to handle license keys in bulk.

The proxmox_node module allows you to import a subscription license on a per-node basis as part of any Ansible playbook, fully integrated into your provisioning or update pipelines. This means that even when you’re provisioning hundreds of nodes automatically, licensing can now be seamlessly included as just another task. No more post-deployment headaches or risky manual steps; everything fully API driven!

But it doesn’t stop there. Alongside license management, the module brings in additional functionality that helps you configure and manage other essential aspects of a node within a Proxmox cluster. Features like power state changes, DNS updates, and certificate handling are now also accessible through Ansible, providing even greater control and consistency in your infrastructure management.

In short, proxmox_node brings a much-needed level of automation maturity to Proxmox environments, enabling truly hands-off deployments and consistent configuration at scale.

Features

The new Ansible module proxmox_node brings in features that were missing in the scope of the node itself. Managing mandatory things like certificates for the Proxmox web-interface, DNS, power-states and even subscription licenses are now possible:

• License Subscriptions (add / delete)
• Power States (shutdown, start [WoL])
• DNS Settings
• Certificates (add / delete / update)

The Ansible module also fully supports check_mode.

Examples

To help users get started quickly, I’ve also included practical examples showing how to integrate the proxmox_node module into Ansible roles. These examples demonstrate how to apply subscription keys, manage power states, and configure node settings as part of your standard automation workflows.

Add a Subscription License for a Proxmox VE Node

Adding an removing a subscription license can simply be done in the following way.

- name: Place a subscription license on a Proxmox VE Node
  community.proxmox.node:
    api_host: proxmoxhost
    api_user: root@pam
    api_password: password123
    validate_certs: false
    node_name: de-cgn01-virt01
    subscription:
        state: present
        key: ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP-QRST-UVWX-YZ0123456789

Start a Proxmox VE Node

There might be some cases where you want to fully shutdown a node, but of course also to start the system again. This might also become very handy in addition to the open-source ProxLB (ProxLB at GitHub) and the DPM feature.

- name: Start a Proxmox VE Node
  community.proxmox.node:
    api_host: proxmoxhost
    api_user: root@pam
    api_password: password123
    validate_certs: false
    node_name: de-cgn01-virt01
    power_state: online

Note: Keep in mind that this requires you to have WoL configured within Proxmox for each node!

Update SSL Certificates on a Proxmox VE Node

Adding, updating or removing custom x509 certificates on a Proxmox VE Node can now also be done by the API without using SSH.

- name: Update SSL certificates on a Proxmox VE Node
  community.proxmox.node:
    api_host: proxmoxhost
    api_user: root@pam
    api_password: password123
    validate_certs: false
    node_name: de-cgn01-virt01
    certificates:
        key: /opt/ansible/key.pem
        cert: /opt/ansible/cert.pem
        state: present
        force: false

Conclusion

This new capability once again highlights the true power and flexibility of open-source software. When a gap exists, like the lack of bulk license management for Proxmox nodes, it doesn’t take a large vendor roadmap or months of waiting. Instead, the community steps in, collaborates, and extends the platform with practical, production-ready solutions. The proxmox_node Ansible module is a perfect example of how open-source ecosystems empower users and contributors to solve real-world problems efficiently, free and transparently.

One of the most significant advantages of open-source software is that it encourages rapid innovation. You’re not locked into a rigid product roadmap or forced to rely solely on vendor support. If a feature is missing, it can be developed, reviewed, and merged by anyone in the community. This fosters not only technical progress but also a stronger connection between users and the tools they rely on every day. Open-source promotes flexibility, transparency, and long-term sustainability, especially important in enterprise environments where adaptability and control are critical.

By continuously improving the tooling around Proxmox, open-source efforts like this also help smooth the path for organizations looking to migrate away from proprietary virtualization platforms such as VMware. With robust automation support now available for everything from provisioning to licensing, switching to Proxmox becomes a more viable and attractive option. The ability to fully integrate Proxmox into modern, automated infrastructure pipelines removes friction and reduces the operational overhead traditionally associated with such migrations.

In the end, it’s this kind of openness and community-driven evolution that makes open-source solutions like Proxmox not only competitive for enterprises that value agility, control, and innovation.