The latest release of Proxmox Virtual Environment 8..2 has been published, offering a specialized Linux distribution based on Debian Gnu/Linux. This platform is designed for the deployment and maintenance of virtual servers using LXC and KVM, with the capability to replace products such as VMWARE vsphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Citrix Hypervisor. The installation ISO-image is 1.3 GB in size and can be accessed from here.
Proxmox VE provides a comprehensive system for deploying industrial virtual servers with a user-friendly web interface that can control hundreds or even thousands of virtual machines. The distribution includes built-in tools for managing virtual environments and supports clustering, including the ability to migrate virtual environments from one unit to another seamlessly. Key features of the web interface include support for a secure VNC console, access to all available objects (VMs, storage, nodes) based on roles, and various authentication mechanisms such as MS ADS, LDAP, Linux Pam, and Proxmox VE Authentication.
In the new release of Proxmox VE 8.2, several key updates and features have been introduced:
- Synchronization with Debian 12.5 package base, updates to Linux kernel 6.8, QEMU 8.1.5, LXC 6.0, and OpenZFS 2.2.3. Support for creating storage pools based on CEPH 18.2.2 “Reef” and Ceph 17.2.7 “Quincy”.
- Introduction of a new import master allowing the direct transfer of guest systems from other hypervisors via their API. This feature supports migration from VMware ESXI hypervisor.
- Addition of support for automated Proxmox VE installation without administrator intervention. The Proxmox-Auto utility facilitates the creation of an ISO image for automatic deployment, with installation parameters set through a configuration file built into the ISO-image or located on separate USB carriers or network uploads.
- Inclusion of a backup regime based on reserves on local disk (Backup Fleecing) to minimize performance impact on guest systems during backup to external storage. This feature allows blocks to be preserved in a separate local section before transferring to external storage, reducing performance degradation in guest systems with slow network connections or high I/O activity.