Category: Ansible

Introducing Storage Management for Proxmox Nodes and Clusters with the new Ansible Module proxmox_storage

(2025-08-13):
Managing Proxmox storage resources at scale has traditionally been a cumbersome task. In clustered environments where consistency, reliability, and speed are critical, manually adding or removing storage definitions on each node wastes valuable time and introduces the risk of human error. Imagine configuring NFS shares, CephFS mounts, iSCSI targets or Proxmox Backup Server repositories across dozens or even hundreds of nodes, each in different locations, and having to repeat the same steps manually or with ad-hoc scripts. It slows down operations, disrupts automation pipelines, and often leads to inconsistencies between nodes. Until now, there was no clean, supported, and API-driven way to manage storage across Proxmox environments directly within Ansible. This is exactly the gap the new proxmox_storage module fills. Recently added to the upstream community.proxmox Ansible collection, this module introduces a structured and reliable approach to provisioning storage on single Proxmox VE nodes or entire clusters, fully aligned with .... [read more]

Building Modern Proxmox Infrastructures in 2025: Automated, Scalable, and Open for Everyone

(2025-08-11):
The Proxmox ecosystem has grown massively in recent months – and one of the key reasons behind this growth is the strong and active community that continues to push the project forward after the VMware aquisition by Broadcom. You can really feel the momentum. There is a lot happening around Proxmox, and the pace is only picking up. I see this every day in my own work. Proxmox has become one of the most important parts of my tech stack. It’s reliable, flexible, and can be used in so many different ways. Some use it in the classic ClickOps style through the UI. Others build semi-automated setups by using the tools Proxmox already provides. And then there are the fully automated deployments, which is where things really get interesting. That’s especially true if you’re moving away from other virtualization solutions. When you have multiple clusters, running in different locations and .... [read more]

Introducing License Management for Proxmox Nodes with the New Ansible Module proxmox_node

(2025-07-12):
Managing Proxmox subscription licenses at scale has always been a challenge. Especially in enterprise environments, manual assignment of licenses across hundreds of nodes can be inefficient and error-prone. Until now, there wasn't a supported, API-driven way to integrate license management directly into Ansible workflows. The proxmox_node Module The new proxmox_node module (merged into the community.proxmox collection) allows you to manage Proxmox nodes programmatically. Key features include: o Bulk license import o Power state control (shutdown/start/WoL) o DNS configuration o SSL certificate management o Fully supports Ansible check_mode This module integrates seamlessly into your automation pipelines, making licensing, node configuration, and other administrative tasks fully API-driven and repeatable. Examples Add a Subscription License Adding a subscription license to a Proxmox VE node can be done like this: - 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: .... [read more]

NFSv3 vs NFSv4 Storage on Proxmox: The Latency Clash That Reveals More Than You Think

(2025-07-04):
When it comes to virtualization, many people still think that NFS isn’t suitable for serious workloads in their enterprise environment and that you need to rely on protocols like iSCSI or Fibre Channel to get proper performance. That mindset might have made sense years ago, but times have changed. Today, we have access to incredibly fast networks and not only in enterprise but even at home. It’s not uncommon to see 10 Gbit networking in home labs, and enterprises are already moving to 25, 40, 100, or even 400 Gbit infrastructure. So the bottleneck is no longer bandwidth rather than the protocol overhead and hardware interaction that really matters. NFS, despite being around for decades, is often underestimated. Many still think of it as a basic file-sharing protocol, not realizing how far it’s come and how capable it is when properly configured and used with the latest versions. Especially in .... [read more]

Building Your Own PKI with Step-CA – From Root CA to Proxmox Integration with ACME

(2025-06-29):
Running your own on-prem PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) can be a game-changer and it’s not just for enterprises, but also for advanced homelabs. Whether it’s about securing internal services, managing client certificates for S/MIME email encryption, or just having full control over certificate issuance, operating your own root CA brings a lot of flexibility and independence. There are many ways to set up a basic CA, even just using OpenSSL on the command line. But as soon as your setup grows, you’ll quickly run into limitations. Things like revoking certificates, publishing CRLs, using OCSP, or automating issuance via the ACME protocol become essential. And that’s where more powerful tools come in. Popular solutions like FreeIPA, HashiCorp Vault, or EJBCA offer robust PKI functionality, but they can be overkill for some environments or tricky to integrate with specific workflows. One tool that’s gained a lot of traction in recent years is .... [read more]

From Scripted Chaos to Clean API: Proxmox Cluster Setup with Ansible Done Right with the New proxmox_cluster Module

(2025-06-18):
Until now, automating Proxmox cluster setups with Ansible often meant relying on hacky shell or command module usages within playbooks/roles and dealing with poor error handling. That changes with my new Ansible modules, proxmox_cluster and proxmox_cluster_info . If you're following me, you might have already found this as a sneak peek in my post about how BoxyBSD boosted the Proxmox ecosystem. These tools leverage the official Proxmox API, enabling direct and reliable cluster creation and joining. Already available in the upstream Ansible Community Proxmox collection, they include robust error handling and support for both user and token-based authentication. Usage Using these new modules is straightforward and simply requires one task for creating or joining a Proxmox cluster. Create a Proxmox VE Cluster - name: Create a Proxmox VE Cluster community.proxmox.proxmox_cluster: state: present api_host: proxmoxhost api_user: root@pam api_password: password123 api_ssl_verify: false link0: 10.10.1.1 link1: 10.10.2.1 cluster_name: "devcluster" Join a Proxmox VE .... [read more]

How My BoxyBSD Project Boosted the Proxmox Ecosystem

(2025-06-06):
When I first started BoxyBSD, I had a fairly straightforward goal in mind: Build a completely free VPS hosting platform with full IPv6 support aimed at beginners and small open-source projects. Something simple, lightweight, and accessible. But as the project evolved, I realized it was becoming much more than just a small personal project and BoxyBSD started giving back - not only to open-source in general but also to the Proxmox community in ways I hadn't anticipated. What surprised me the most was how deep I had to dive into architectural decisions that I initially thought wouldn't matter that much - surprisingly it also changed my whole initial idea running everything on FreeBSD with bhyve - and let me say - it should become completely different! Managing resources efficiently across multiple VMs, fully automated deployment, monitoring system including all guests, clustering across different locations and live migrations of guests - .... [read more]

Howto: Automated FreeBSD VM Deployment with ProxLB and Terraform

(2024-09-01):
In today’s fast-paced IT environments, automation is essential for maintaining efficiency and staying competitive. Whether you're managing a small-scale infrastructure or an enterprise-level system, the ability to deploy virtual machines (VMs) quickly, consistently, and with minimal manual intervention can be transformative. This is where tools like ProxLB and Terraform come into play, offering a powerful solution for automating the deployment and management of VMs. Why Terraform and not Ansible? I'm aware that Ansible is a great tool - also for such things - but Ansible might be slow in some cases with too many tasks and not writing own custom modules that improve the overall handling. Terraform is often the better choice when it comes just to build up a base infrastructure from scratch where Ansible can take over after this baseline has been set. So, let's have a look at the other tools used here. ProxLB is a robust .... [read more]

ProxLB - (Re)Balance VM Workloads Across Nodes in Proxmox Clusters.

(2024-07-06):
ProxLB (PLB) is an open-source Proxmox loadbalancer, but different! ProxLB is an application created to optimize the distribution of virtual machines (VMs) across Proxmox cluster nodes for significantly enhancing efficiency and performance. Utilizing the Proxmox API, ProxLB gathers and analyzes a comprehensive set of resource metrics from both the cluster nodes and the running VMs, including CPU usage, memory consumption, and local disk utilization. A key feature of ProxLB is its intelligent rebalancing capability, which redistributes VMs based on their memory, disk, or CPU usage. In those cases, the real memory consumption from the VM is taken instead of the potential maximum usage. This ensures no single node is overburdened while others remain underutilized, significantly enhancing cluster performance and reliability. By evenly distributing resources, ProxLB helps prevent performance bottlenecks and improves the overall stability of the cluster. Efficient rebalancing leads to better utilization of available resources, potentially reducing the need .... [read more]

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