VM/CT Management¶

Procedures for creating, managing, and migrating VMs and containers.

Creating New VMs/Containers¶

1. Get Next VMID¶

# Get next available VMID for px1 production
infra next-vmid px1 prod

# Get next available VMID for px5 dev
infra next-vmid px5 dev

2. Get Next IP Address¶

# Get next available IP for UK site
infra next-ip uk

# Get next available IP for France site
infra next-ip france

3. Create Container (LXC)¶

# Create from template
pct create <vmid> local:vztmpl/debian-12-standard_12.2-1_amd64.tar.zst \
  --hostname <name> \
  --storage ceph-pool \
  --rootfs ceph-pool:8 \
  --memory 2048 \
  --cores 2 \
  --net0 name=eth0,bridge=vmbr0,tag=10,ip=<ip>/24,gw=REDACTED_IP \
  --unprivileged 1

# Start container
pct start <vmid>

4. Create VM (QEMU)¶

# Create VM
qm create <vmid> \
  --name <name> \
  --memory 4096 \
  --cores 2 \
  --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0,tag=10 \
  --scsihw virtio-scsi-pci \
  --scsi0 ceph-pool:32

# Attach ISO and boot
qm set <vmid> --ide2 local:iso/debian-12.iso,media=cdrom
qm set <vmid> --boot order=ide2
qm start <vmid>

5. Configure SSH Access¶

# Set up bi-directional SSH access
setup-vm-ssh <vmid>

Managing VMs/Containers¶

Start/Stop Operations¶

# Container operations
pct start <vmid>
pct shutdown <vmid>    # Graceful shutdown
pct stop <vmid>        # Force stop
pct reboot <vmid>

# VM operations
qm start <vmid>
qm shutdown <vmid>     # Graceful shutdown
qm stop <vmid>         # Force stop
qm reboot <vmid>

Execute Commands¶

# Container - direct execution
pct exec <vmid> -- <command>
pct exec 1112 -- systemctl status postgresql

# VM - via QEMU guest agent
qm guest exec <vmid> -- <command>

Console Access¶

# Container console
pct enter <vmid>

# VM console (via VNC)
# Use Proxmox web UI or:
qm terminal <vmid>

Resize Disk¶

# Container
pct resize <vmid> rootfs +10G

# VM
qm resize <vmid> scsi0 +10G

Modify Resources¶

# Container - update memory and CPU
pct set <vmid> --memory 4096 --cores 4

# VM - update memory and CPU
qm set <vmid> --memory 4096 --cores 4

Migration¶

Live Migration (Same Cluster)¶

# Migrate container to another node
pct migrate <vmid> <target-node>

# Migrate VM to another node
qm migrate <vmid> <target-node>

# Online migration (VM must have shared storage)
qm migrate <vmid> <target-node> --online

Cross-Site Migration (UK ↔ France)¶

For cross-site migration (px1/px2/px3 ↔ px5):

Create vzdump backup:

vzdump <vmid> --storage local --compress zstd

Copy to target node:

scp /var/lib/vz/dump/vzdump-*-<vmid>-*.tar.zst root@<target-node>:/var/lib/vz/dump/

Restore on target:

# Container
pct restore <new-vmid> /var/lib/vz/dump/vzdump-lxc-<vmid>-*.tar.zst

# VM
qmrestore /var/lib/vz/dump/vzdump-qemu-<vmid>-*.vma.zst <new-vmid>

Cloning¶

Clone Container¶

# Full clone
pct clone <source-vmid> <new-vmid> --full --storage ceph-pool

# Linked clone (uses less space)
pct clone <source-vmid> <new-vmid>

Clone VM¶

# Full clone
qm clone <source-vmid> <new-vmid> --full --storage ceph-pool

# Change name after clone
qm set <new-vmid> --name <new-name>

Deletion¶

# Stop first
pct stop <vmid>  # or qm stop <vmid>

# Destroy container
pct destroy <vmid>

# Destroy VM
qm destroy <vmid>

# Force destroy (including disks)
qm destroy <vmid> --purge

Templates¶

Create Template from Container¶

pct template <vmid>

Create Template from VM¶

qm template <vmid>

Templates can then be cloned for new instances.

Best Practices¶

Always use the VMID convention: [N][P][SS] format
Run setup-vm-ssh after creating new VMs/CTs
Document the purpose in the VM/CT notes field
Add to infra database via Domain Manager API for tracking
Configure backups for production workloads