Proxmox Level 1 – Foundations

This module introduces Proxmox VE as a virtualisation platform and gives learners the practical knowledge needed to navigate the GUI, understand core concepts, provision guests, and carry out basic administration safely.

It acts as the natural prerequisite for Proxmox Level 2 – Engineering and Proxmox Level 3 – Advanced.

Course purpose

Give learners a practical, beginner-friendly foundation in Proxmox VE so they can understand what the platform is, work confidently in the GUI, create and manage guests, and build the right habits before moving on to deeper engineering and troubleshooting topics.

Duration

1 day for experienced technical learners
2 days if you want plenty of labs and beginner-friendly pacing

Target audience

new Proxmox administrators
helpdesk / NOC / operations staff
junior infrastructure engineers
VMware/Hyper-V admins transitioning to Proxmox
technical staff who need to manage guests but not yet troubleshoot at host-engineering level

Prerequisites

Ideally learners will have:

basic Linux awareness
basic networking awareness
general understanding of servers, disks and IP addressing

The course is still designed to remain beginner-friendly.

Learning outcomes

explain what Proxmox VE is and where it fits in an infrastructure estate
distinguish between Linux, KVM, QEMU, LXC and Proxmox VE
explain the difference between a VM and a container
describe the meaning of common virtual hardware settings such as vCPU, RAM, ballooning and VirtIO
navigate the Proxmox GUI confidently
create, start, stop and manage guests
explain common storage types at a high level
explain Proxmox networking basics at a high level
understand what a cluster is and perform simple join/create tasks
understand the role of qemu-guest-agent
understand the difference between snapshots and backups
perform basic backup operations and understand the role of Proxmox Backup Server

Detailed module structure

Unit 1: Introduction to Proxmox VE

Topics:

what Proxmox VE is
what problems it solves
where it sits in the stack
Proxmox VE as:
- a Linux-based host platform
- a hypervisor management platform
- a clustering platform
- a storage/network integration point
common use cases:
- virtual servers
- labs
- branch office infrastructure
- private cloud / on-prem virtualisation
bare metal hypervisor vs hosted hypervisor
management plane vs guest workloads
single node vs cluster

Good framing: Linux is the operating system underneath, KVM provides virtualisation in the kernel, QEMU provides the VM process and virtual hardware emulation, LXC provides system containers, and Proxmox VE ties all of it together as the management platform.

Unit 2: Linux, KVM, QEMU and LXC — what each thing is

Topics:

Linux as the base OS
what a kernel is, at a very high level
what KVM is
what QEMU is
how KVM and QEMU work together
what LXC is
containers vs virtual machines
why Proxmox supports both

Useful beginner table:

Linux = host operating system
KVM = kernel virtualisation capability
QEMU = VM userspace engine / device model
LXC = container technology
PVE = management platform

Unit 3: What is a guest?

Topics:

definition of a guest
guest types:
- VM
- LXC container
when to use a VM
when to use a container
trade-offs:
- isolation
- performance
- flexibility
- operating system support
- security boundaries

Practical explanations:

a VM has its own kernel
a container shares the host kernel
a VM emulates hardware
a container isolates userspace processes

Unit 4: Virtual hardware fundamentals

Topics:

vCPU:
- what a vCPU is
- sockets vs cores vs threads in simple terms
- overcommit at a high level
RAM:
- assigned memory
- reserved vs used memory concepts
ballooning:
- what it does
- why it exists
- when it helps and when to be cautious
disk controllers and virtual disks
NIC models
BIOS vs UEFI
machine types at a high level
VirtIO:
- what it is
- why paravirtualised devices improve performance
guest drivers/tools
boot order
CD/DVD ISO attachment
why Windows may need VirtIO drivers
why guest OS choice affects hardware compatibility
why more vCPUs is not always better

Key idea: virtual hardware is presented to the guest OS as if it were real hardware.

Unit 5: Proxmox GUI navigation and day-to-day use

Topics:

datacentre, node, storage and guest views
summary, console, hardware, options, tasks, backups and snapshots
task history and logs
permissions and roles at a high level
where to find important guest actions in the GUI

Lab ideas:

identify where to find ISO images
identify local storage
locate guest hardware settings
find task history
find node summary
find cluster view

Unit 6: Storage foundations

Topics:

what storage means in Proxmox
file-based vs block-based storage
shared vs local storage
which storage types can hold VM disks, container rootfs, ISOs, templates and backups
high-level overview of:
- Directory
- LVM
- LVM-Thin
- NFS
- iSCSI
- Ceph
- Proxmox Backup Server storage target
what each is, what it is not, typical use cases and basic pros/cons

Beginner framing:

Directory: normal filesystem storage for files
LVM: block storage managed by logical volumes
LVM-Thin: thin-provisioned block storage, more flexible for VM disks and snapshots
NFS: shared file storage over the network
iSCSI: block storage presented over the network
Ceph: distributed shared storage platform
PBS: backup target, not primary VM storage

Unit 7: Creating and provisioning guests

Topics:

creating a VM:
- ISO selection
- storage choice
- CPU and memory assignment
- network adapter selection
- disk bus type
creating an LXC container:
- templates
- rootfs
- CPU and memory
- network
basic best practices for naming and organisation
templates at a high level

Lab ideas:

create a Linux VM
create an LXC container
compare settings side by side

Unit 8: Basic guest lifecycle operations

Topics:

start
stop
shutdown
reset / reboot
suspend / resume
pause / freeze
console access
force stop vs graceful shutdown
what happens when guest tools are installed vs not installed

Important distinction: shutdown asks the OS to shut down cleanly, stop is a hard power off, and pause or suspend halts execution rather than shutting the guest down.

Unit 9: Cloning, templates, migration and snapshots

Topics:

clone vs template
full clone vs linked clone at a high level
migration at a high level:
- what live migration is
- what it requires
- when it will and will not work
snapshots:
- what they are
- why they are useful short term
- why they are not backups
restore from snapshot at a high level

Simple operational message: snapshots are useful for short-term change protection, but they can consume space and hurt performance if left in place and should never replace backups.

Unit 10: Networking basics

Topics:

NICs and Linux bridges
host management IP
guest networking
vmbr interfaces
VLAN awareness at a high level
bond basics at a high level
why storage traffic and guest traffic may be separated
what Proxmox SDN is, at a very high level, if relevant

Scope note: this unit stays at foundation level and deliberately avoids deep editing of /etc/network/interfaces, which fits more naturally in Level 2.

Unit 11: Basic cluster concepts and operations

Topics:

what a Proxmox cluster is
benefits of clustering
single pane of glass management
migration between nodes
quorum at a simple level
basic cluster create / join concepts
what shared storage changes
cluster prerequisites at a high level

Lab ideas:

review the cluster view in the GUI
walk through the prerequisites for adding a node
discuss what clustering enables and what it does not

Unit 12: Guest tools and qemu-guest-agent

Topics:

what qemu-guest-agent is
why it helps
improved shutdown and reboot behaviour
IP reporting
filesystem freeze/thaw support for backups
operations that depend on guest cooperation

Unit 13: Backups, PBS and basic recovery concepts

Topics:

why backups matter
snapshots vs backups
backup storage targets
scheduling at a high level
basic restore concepts
what Proxmox Backup Server is
what PBS does differently
deduplication and compression at a high level
retention at a high level

Important foundation message: snapshot = short-term rollback aid, backup = recoverable copy stored separately, PBS = purpose-built backup platform for Proxmox environments.

Unit 14: Basic administration good practice

Topics:

naming conventions
guest notes and documentation fields
tagging
checking task logs before retrying actions
avoiding force stop unless necessary
validating storage choice before deployment
not leaving snapshots around
confirming backups complete successfully
understanding whether a task is node-local or cluster-wide

Assessment

Practical GUI exercise

identify storage, guest hardware, task history and node views
create and start a guest
perform basic lifecycle operations safely
explain the difference between snapshot and backup

Foundation knowledge check

Explain VM vs container, describe basic storage and networking choices, and outline what clustering and guest tools enable.

Solid foundations - Confident GUI use - Better day-one Proxmox administration

Designed to prepare learners for safe operations now and deeper engineering study later

Training scope and tailoring

The training plan shown above is provided as a structured guide to the typical scope and direction of the course. Our training content is reviewed and refined over time, so the precise balance of modules, examples and exercises may vary when the course is delivered.

Where there are specific topics, technologies or operational outcomes that are particularly important to your team, these can normally be incorporated into the delivery plan by prior agreement. Training is not treated as a rigid, fixed package; it is adapted where appropriate to reflect the client environment, delegate experience level, group size and the objectives agreed in advance.