Skip to main content

First Steps

With ProxCenter installed and your Proxmox infrastructure connected, here is a guided tour of the dashboard and its key sections.

The Home Dashboard​

When you log in, the Home page gives you an at-a-glance overview of your entire infrastructure through a set of widgets:

  • Cluster Summary -- Total number of connected clusters, nodes, VMs, and containers
  • Resource Utilization -- Aggregate CPU, memory, and storage usage across all nodes
  • Node Health -- Online/offline status for each connected Proxmox node with quick health indicators
  • Recent Events -- The latest operations and system events from across your infrastructure
  • Backup Status -- Overview of recent backup job results (success, warnings, failures)
tip

The dashboard refreshes data in real time. You do not need to manually reload the page -- metrics and statuses update automatically as your infrastructure changes.

The sidebar organizes ProxCenter's features into logical sections. Here is what each one covers.

Infrastructure​

Your central inventory for all connected Proxmox resources.

  • Inventory -- A unified table of all nodes, virtual machines, and containers across every connected cluster. Filter, search, and sort by any attribute. Click any resource to view detailed information, metrics, and available actions.
  • Storage -- Overview of all storage pools (local, shared, Ceph, NFS, ZFS) with capacity and usage metrics.
  • Ceph -- Dedicated view for Ceph cluster health, OSD status, pool configuration, and performance metrics (if your Proxmox environment uses Ceph).

Operations​

Day-to-day management and monitoring tools.

  • Events -- Aggregated event log from all connected Proxmox hosts. Filter by node, type, severity, or date range. Essential for auditing and troubleshooting.
  • Backups -- Centralized view of all backup jobs, schedules, and restore points across your PBS connections. Monitor job status and review backup history.
  • Alerts (Enterprise) -- Configure threshold-based alerts for CPU, memory, storage, and other metrics. Receive notifications when your infrastructure needs attention.
  • Jobs (Enterprise) -- Schedule and manage recurring tasks across your infrastructure. Automate maintenance windows, cleanup operations, and more.
  • Reports (Enterprise) -- Generate infrastructure reports covering resource usage, capacity planning, and operational summaries. Export or schedule reports for regular delivery.

Automation​

Advanced orchestration features for optimizing and protecting your environment.

  • DRS (Enterprise) -- Distributed Resource Scheduling automatically balances VM workloads across nodes in a cluster based on CPU and memory utilization thresholds.
  • Site Recovery (Enterprise) -- Configure disaster recovery plans with automated failover between Proxmox clusters. Define recovery priorities and test failover procedures.
  • Network Security (Enterprise) -- Manage network security policies and firewall rules across your Proxmox infrastructure from a centralized interface.

Security​

Access control and compliance features.

  • Users -- Manage ProxCenter users and view Proxmox user accounts across connected hosts.
  • RBAC (Enterprise) -- Role-Based Access Control with granular permissions. Define custom roles and assign them to users or groups with resource-level scoping.
  • Audit Log (Enterprise) -- Comprehensive audit trail of all actions performed through ProxCenter. Track who did what, when, and on which resource.

Settings​

Platform configuration and account management.

  • General -- Application settings, display preferences, and data refresh intervals.
  • License -- View your current edition (Community or Enterprise), activate a license key, and check feature availability.
  • Connections -- Manage your Proxmox VE and PBS connections (add, edit, remove, test).
  • Notifications (Enterprise) -- Configure notification channels (email, webhook, Slack, Telegram) for alerts and reports.
  • LDAP (Enterprise) -- Connect ProxCenter to your LDAP or Active Directory server for centralized user authentication.
info

Features marked (Enterprise) require an active Enterprise license. In the Community edition, these sections are visible but locked with an indicator showing the required plan. See Licensing for details.

Tips for Getting Started​

  1. Check your connections -- Head to Infrastructure and verify all your Proxmox nodes show as online with a green status indicator.
  2. Explore the inventory -- Click through your nodes, VMs, and containers to see detailed metrics and available actions.
  3. Review your backups -- Go to Operations > Backups to confirm your backup jobs are running as expected.
  4. Set up additional users -- If your team needs access, create user accounts under Security > Users.
  5. Activate your license -- If you have an Enterprise license key, enter it in Settings > License to unlock advanced features.

What's Next?​

Dive deeper into each feature area: