Book Image

Mastering Proxmox - Third Edition

By : Wasim Ahmed
4 (1)
Book Image

Mastering Proxmox - Third Edition

4 (1)
By: Wasim Ahmed

Overview of this book

Proxmox is an open source server virtualization solution that has enterprise-class features for managing virtual machines, for storage, and to virtualize both Linux and Windows application workloads. You'll begin with a refresher on the advanced installation features and the Proxmox GUI to familiarize yourself with the Proxmox VE hypervisor. Then, you'll move on to explore Proxmox under the hood, focusing on storage systems, such as Ceph, used with Proxmox. Moving on, you'll learn to manage KVM virtual machines, deploy Linux containers fast, and see how networking is handled in Proxmox. You'll also learn how to protect a cluster or a VM with a firewall and explore the new high availability features introduced in Proxmox VE 5.0. Next, you'll dive deeper into the backup/restore strategy and see how to properly update and upgrade a Proxmox node. Later, you'll learn how to monitor a Proxmox cluster and all of its components using Zabbix. Finally, you'll discover how to recover Promox from disaster strikes through some real-world examples. By the end of the book, you'll be an expert at making Proxmox work in production environments with minimal downtime.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

A virtual disk image


A virtual disk image is a file or group of files in which a virtual machine stores its data. In Proxmox, a VM configuration file can be recreated and used to attach a disk image. But if the image itself is lost, it can only be restored from a backup. There are different types of virtual disk image formats available to be used with a virtual machine. It is essential to know the different types of image formats in order to have an optimally performing VM. Knowing the disk images also helps prevent the premature shortage of space, which may occur by over-provisioning virtual disks.

Supported image formats

Proxmox supports the .raw, .qcow2, and .vmdk virtual disk formats. Each format has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. The image format is usually chosen based on the function of the virtual machine, storage system in use, performance requirement, and available budget. The following screenshot shows the menu where we can choose an image type during virtual disk creation...