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Proxmox Cheat Sheet

Helpful Proxmox commands to reference as a cheat sheet

VM Management

Command Command Description
qm list list VMs
qm create <vm> Create or restore a virtual machine.
qm start <vm> Start a VM
qm suspend <vm> Suspend virtual machine.
qm shutdown <vm> Shutdown a VM
qm reboot <vm> Reboot a VM
qm reset <vm> Reset a VM
qm stop <vm> Stop a VM
qm destroy <vm> Destroy the VM and all used/owned volumes.
qm monitor <vm> Enter Qemu Monitor interface.
qm pending <vm> Get the virtual machine configuration with both current and pending values.
qm sendkey <vm> <key_event> Send key event to virtual machine.
qm showcmd <vm> Show command line used to start the VM (debug info).
qm unlock <vm> Unlock the VM
qm clone <vm> <new_vm> Clone a VM
qm migrate <vm> <node> Migrate a VM
qm status <vm> Show VM status
qm template <vm> Create a Template
qm set <vm> Set virtual machine options (synchronous API)

Cloudinit

Command Command Description
qm cloudinit dump <vm> <type> Get automatically generated cloudinit config.
qm cloudinit pending <vm> Get the cloudinit configuration with both current and pending values.
qm cloudinit update <vm> Regenerate and change cloudinit config drive.

Disk

Command Command Description
qm disk import <vm> <source> <storage Import an external disk image as an unused disk in a VM.
qm disk move <vm> <disk> Move volume to different storage or to a different VM.
qm disk rescan Rescan all storages and update disk sizes and unused disk images.
qm disk resize <vm> <disk> <size> Extend volume size.
qm disk unlink <vm> --IDLIST <string> Unlink/delete disk images.
qm rescan Rescan volumes.
qemu-img convert <qcow2> <raw> Convert qcow2 to raw
qemu-img convert -p -O qcow2 <raw> <qcow2> Convert back to qcow2

Snapshot

Command Command Description
qm listsnapshot <vm> List all snapshots.
qm snapshot <vm> <snapshot> Snapshot a VM.
qm delsnapshot <vm> <snapshot> Delete a snapshot.
qm rollback <vm> <snapshot> Rollback a snapshot.
qm terminal <vm> Open a terminal using a serial device.
qm vncproxy <vm> Proxy VM VNC traffic to stdin/stdout.

Misc

Command Command Description
qm guest cmd <vm> <command> Execute Qemu Guest Agent commands.
qm guest exec <vm> Executes the given command via the guest agent.
qm guest exec-status <vm> <pid> Gets the status of the given pid started by the guest-agent.
qm guest passwd <vm> <user> Sets the password for the given user to the given password.

PV, VG, LV Management

Command Command Description
pvcreate <disk> Create a PV
pvremove <disk> Remove a PV
pvs List all PVs
vgcreate <vg> <disk> Create a VG
vgremove <vg> Remove a VG
vgs List all VGs
lvcreate -L LV-SIZE -n <lv> <vg> Create a LV
lvremove <vg>/<lv> Remove a LV
lvs List all LVs

Storage Management

Command Command Description
pvesm add TYPE <storage> Create a new storage
pvesm alloc <storage> <vm> <file> <size> Allocate disk images
pvesm free <volume> Delete volume
pvesm remove <storage> Delete storage configuration
pvesm list <storage> List storage content
pvesm lvmscan An alias for pvesm scan lvm
pvesm lvmthinscan An alias for pvesm scan lvmthin
pvesm scan lvm List local LVM volume groups
pvesm scan lvmthin VG List local LVM Thin Pools
pvesm status Get status for all datastores

Template Management

Command Command Description
pveam available List all templates
pveam list <storage> List all templates
pveam download <storage> <template> Download appliance templates
pveam remove <template> Remove a template
pveam update Update Container Template Database

Container Management

Command Command Description
pct list List containers
pct create <vm> OSTEMPLATE Create or restore a container
pct start <vm> Start the container
pct clone <vm> <new_vm> Create a container clone/copy
pct suspend <vm> Suspend the container. This is experimental.
pct resume <vm> Resume the container
pct stop <vm> Stop the container. This will abruptly stop all processes running in the container.
pct shutdown <vm> Shutdown the container. This will trigger a clean shutdown of the container.
pct destroy <vm> Destroy the container (also delete all uses files)
pct status <vm> Show CT status
pct migrate <vm> <target> Migrate the container to another node. Creates a new migration task.
pct config <vm> Get container configuration
pct cpusets Print the list of assigned CPU sets
pct pending <vm> Get container configuration, including pending changes
pct reboot <vm> Reboot the container by shutting it down and starting it again. Applies pending changes.
pct restore <vm> <template> Create or restore a container
pct set <vm> Set container options
pct template <vm> Create a Template
pct unlock <vm> Unlock the VM

Container Disks

Command Command Description
pct df <vm> Get the container’s current disk usage
pct fsck <vm> Run a filesystem check (fsck) on a container volume
pct fstrim <vm> Run fstrim on a chosen CT and its mountpoints
pct mount <vm> Mount the container’s filesystem on the host
pct move-volume <vm> <volume> Move a rootfs-/mp-volume to a different storage or to a different container
pct unmount <vm> Unmount the container’s filesystem
pct resize <vm> <disk> <size> Resize a container mount point
pct rescan Rescan all storages and update disk sizes and unused disk images
pct enter <vm> Connect to container
pct console <vm> Launch a console for the specified container
pct exec <vm> Launch a command inside the specified container
pct pull <vm> <source> <destination> Copy a file from the container to the local system
pct push <vm> <source> <destination> Copy a local file to the container

Web GUI

Command Command Description
service pveproxy restart Restart the Proxmox web GUI
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