1. Control Proxmox Centrally with the New Datacenter Manager

• Central Datacenter Management for all Proxmox Instances
• Multicluster Management for "Clustered Clusters"
• Debian GNU/Linux "Trixie" 13.2 as a Standardized Foundation
• Availability and Pricing
• Update: Proxmox Backup Server 4.1

The first version of the new Proxmox Datacenter Manager has been released. It also comes from the Viennese Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, known for its Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE), which is currently in version 9.1. The Datacenter Manager offers a central, unified web console for managing, monitoring, and scaling all your Proxmox VE and Proxmox Backup Server instances, as well as clusters and nodes across organizations. Ultimately, it aims to provide a consolidated view of the entire Proxmox infrastructure, simplify routine tasks for entire groups of clusters, and offer additional functionalities. In line with this, Proxmox Backup Server 4.1 was also recently released.

Central Datacenter Management for all Proxmox Instances

The central dashboard aggregates status and performance data from multiple connected Proxmox remotes, making the global state of all Proxmox instances – i.e., VE Nodes/Clusters and Proxmox Backup Servers, immediately visible. This includes key telemetry data (Key Performance Indicators, KPIs) such as CPU, RAM, and Storage I/O usage. A local cache ensures that the last known state remains available offline, allowing for better identification of bottlenecks and potential issues.

Customizable, role-based "Custom Views" enable the creation of specifically filtered dashboards that display only selected systems, resource types, or operational tags. Thanks to integrated Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), each team receives the transparency they need without having direct access to underlying machines or hosts. This ensures both adequate security and good clarity in multi-tenant environments.

Multicluster Management for "Clustered Clusters"

Multicluster management allows for seamless connection and management of independent Proxmox clusters and individual nodes through a central interface. A highlight is the cross-cluster live migration, which allows administrators to move VMs between clusters without downtime. This is intended for flexible load balancing as well as for uninterrupted maintenance work.

The platform offers centralized SDN functions with EVPN support, allowing EVPN zones and VNets to be configured across multiple remotes within a single interface. This decouples the complexity of network overlays from the hosts and significantly simplifies administration in large environments.

Centralized update management provides an immediate overview of all available updates for the entire Proxmox infrastructure. This also includes direct distribution of Proxmox VE and Proxmox Backup Server patches, as well as unified, secure shell access to all connected remote systems via a single console.

Debian GNU/Linux "Trixie" 13.2 as a Standardized Foundation

Just like with Proxmox VE, the developers are relying on Debian GNU/Linux "Trixie" 13.2, including updated packages and bug fixes, as the basis for the new Datacenter Manager 1.0 and Backup Server 4.1. It uses a customized Linux kernel 6.17.2 rather than Debian’s conservative Linux kernel. OpenZFS 2.3.4 is responsible for accessing mass storage. All systems can be conveniently kept up-to-date via the WebGUI or apt(8) in the terminal.

A problem that was also addressed in the Proxmox forum: As an all-powerful entry point to the entire Proxmox infrastructure, the Proxmox Datacenter Manager presents a lucrative attack target. After all, in the event of a compromise, not only nodes and clusters are affected, but also, more insidiously, the backups themselves. Administrators should block any unnecessary incoming traffic to the Datacenter Manager, encrypt backups client-side, and use a secure VPN for access over insecure networks. This should not be too difficult, as the Datacenter Manager fundamentally contacts the Proxmox VE and Backup Server instances – and not vice versa. Proxmox Solutions GmbH is aware of the problem and plans to make further security measures available in the medium term.

Availability and Pricing

The Proxmox Datacenter Manager 1.0, like Proxmox VE and Proxmox Backup Server, is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (GNU AGPLv3). All products can be used free of charge and are freely available for download. As with the other products, there is a small entry price for access to the Enterprise Repository and tiered pricing based on support level. Access to the Enterprise Repository for the new Proxmox Datacenter Manager 1.0 costs 540 Euros (net) per year, with additional support available for 1080 to 4320 Euros per year.

Another important note from the FAQ for Proxmox Datacenter Manager: The Proxmox Datacenter Manager can only use the Enterprise Repository if at least 80 percent of the configured remote systems have a valid Basic or higher subscription.

Update: Proxmox Backup Server 4.1

Additionally, Proxmox Backup Server has been updated to version 4.1. It is an open-source, dedicated backup and restore platform that creates incremental and encrypted backups for the entire Proxmox universe.

The new release extends the existing traffic control with the ability to set bandwidth limits on a per-user basis. This allows for finer prioritization of backup and restore workloads, for example, by giving business-critical services more bandwidth or clearly separating production and test environments.

The new version allows the number of threads for reading backup data from disk and for checksum calculation in verification jobs to be freely configured. This parallelism, adaptable to hardware and workload, can significantly reduce verification times and increase overall throughput.

Furthermore, Proxmox Backup Server 4.1 complements the S3 support introduced in version 4.0 with the option to limit bandwidth for backup and restore operations to S3 endpoints. This helps avoid network bottlenecks, especially in shared or bandwidth-constrained environments.

(mho)

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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.