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Proxmox VE Monitoring

Monitor Proxmox VE clusters, nodes, virtual machines, containers, storage, and Ceph health through the Proxmox REST API.

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NetCrunch provides integrated monitoring for Proxmox Virtual Environment infrastructure. It collects health, status, and performance data from Proxmox clusters, physical Proxmox nodes, QEMU virtual machines, and LXC containers using the Proxmox REST API.

Proxmox monitoring gives you a centralized and hierarchical view of the infrastructure:

  • Cluster status and quorum
  • Proxmox node availability and resource usage
  • Datastore and storage usage
  • Ceph cluster state
  • Virtual machine and container performance
  • CPU, memory, disk, network, swap, and pressure stall metrics

NetCrunch can connect directly to a single Proxmox node or retrieve information from the whole Proxmox cluster.

Requirements

Proxmox monitoring requires credentials that allow read-only access to the Proxmox VE API.

Supported authentication methods:

  • API Token, recommended
  • Username and password

The monitoring user requires the PVEAuditor role assigned at the root level /.

This grants read-only access to all cluster resources and is required for complete cluster, node, storage, VM, and container visibility.

This requirement applies to all supported Proxmox user types:

  • Local Proxmox users, for example user@pve
  • Linux PAM users, for example user@pam
  • LDAP or Active Directory users

Use an API token whenever possible. It is safer than storing an interactive user password and is easier to rotate without changing the user's login credentials.

Configuration

NetCrunch includes preconfigured automatic monitoring packages for Proxmox VE. When the node operating system monitor is set to Proxmox VE, NetCrunch can automatically apply the required monitoring settings.

For new nodes, Proxmox VE can be detected automatically. You can also enable Proxmox VE monitoring manually in the node monitoring settings.

After valid Proxmox credentials are provided, NetCrunch detects the Proxmox cluster and prompts you to add it for monitoring.

Cluster monitoring options

Create atlas nodes for Proxmox nodes
Automatically adds Proxmox cluster nodes to the Network Atlas for monitoring.

Node monitoring options

Create nodes for guests
Automatically adds Proxmox guest systems to the Network Atlas. This applies only to guests with a known IP address.

For QEMU virtual machines, the Proxmox Guest Agent must be running for the guest IP address to be available to NetCrunch.

Cluster Monitoring

Cluster monitoring tracks the health and availability of the Proxmox cluster as a whole.

NetCrunch automatically collects storage usage metrics for the Proxmox cluster and monitors key cluster-level conditions.

Cluster alerts

NetCrunch can alert on the following Proxmox cluster conditions:

  • Ceph Cluster Warning
  • Ceph Cluster Critical
  • Cluster has no Quorum
  • Low free space on Datastore
  • Any Proxmox node goes offline

Cluster monitoring scope

Cluster monitoring is focused on shared infrastructure state, including:

  • Cluster quorum
  • Node membership
  • Datastore usage
  • Cluster-level storage health
  • Ceph health, if Ceph is used by the Proxmox environment

Proxmox Node Monitoring

A Proxmox node is monitored by enabling the Proxmox VE OS monitor on the node.

Node monitoring tracks the physical or virtual host running Proxmox VE. It collects system-level metrics and monitors host resource pressure.

Node alerts

NetCrunch can alert on the following Proxmox node conditions:

  • High CPU Usage
  • High memory usage
  • Low free disk space
  • High swap usage
  • Possible storage bottleneck, based on IO Wait
  • Node CPU Pressure Warning, when cpu > 70% or loadavg / maxcpu > 0.7
  • Node CPU Saturation Critical, when cpu > 90% and loadavg / maxcpu > 1.0

Performance Metrics - Proxmox Node

The Proxmox node sensor collects comprehensive metrics about node resource usage and performance.

Processor metrics

  • Processor/% CPU Usage
  • Processor/CPU Count

Memory metrics

  • Memory/% Used
  • Memory/% Free
  • Memory/Total Bytes
  • Memory/Used Bytes
  • Memory/Free Bytes

Disk metrics

  • Disk/% Used
  • Disk/% Free
  • Disk/Total Bytes
  • Disk/Used Bytes
  • Disk/Free Bytes

System metrics

  • System/Uptime
  • System/% IO Wait

CPU Load metrics

  • CPU Load/1 Minute Average
  • CPU Load/5 Minutes Average
  • CPU Load/15 Minutes Average

Swap metrics

  • Swap/% Used
  • Swap/% Free
  • Swap/Total Bytes
  • Swap/Used Bytes
  • Swap/Free Bytes

Virtual Machine and Container Monitoring

The Proxmox/VM Sensor is added automatically when NetCrunch discovers that a node is a Proxmox virtual machine or container.

No additional sensor configuration is required.

Supported guest types:

  • QEMU virtual machines
  • LXC containers

For QEMU virtual machines, the Proxmox Guest Agent must be installed and running if you want NetCrunch to receive the guest IP address from Proxmox.

Guest alerts

NetCrunch can alert on the following guest conditions:

  • High guest processor utilization
  • High guest memory usage
  • Low free disk space on guest
  • CPU fully saturated, all tasks waiting
  • Applications waiting for CPU
  • Processes waiting for memory
  • System stalled due to memory pressure
  • Applications waiting for disk
  • All operations blocked by disk I/O

Performance Metrics - Virtual Machines and Containers

The Proxmox/VM Sensor collects detailed metrics about guest system resource usage.

Guest Processor metrics

  • Guest Processor/% CPU Usage
  • Guest Processor/CPU Count

Guest Memory metrics

  • Guest Memory/% Used
  • Guest Memory/% Free
  • Guest Memory/Total Bytes
  • Guest Memory/Used Bytes
  • Guest Memory/Free Bytes

Guest Swap metrics

Guest swap metrics are available for LXC containers only.

  • Guest Swap/% Used
  • Guest Swap/% Free
  • Guest Swap/Total Bytes
  • Guest Swap/Used Bytes
  • Guest Swap/Free Bytes

Guest Disk metrics

  • Guest Proxmox.Guest.Disk/Read Bytes
  • Guest Proxmox.Guest.Disk/Write Bytes
  • Guest Proxmox.Guest.Disk/Read Bytes/sec
  • Guest Proxmox.Guest.Disk/Write Bytes/sec

Guest Network metrics

  • Guest Network/In Bytes
  • Guest Network/Out Bytes
  • Guest Network/In Bytes/sec
  • Guest Network/Out Bytes/sec

Guest CPU Pressure Stall metrics

  • Guest CPU Pressure Stall/% Some
  • Guest CPU Pressure Stall/% Full

Guest Memory Pressure Stall metrics

  • Guest Memory Pressure Stall/% Some
  • Guest Memory Pressure Stall/% Full

Guest IO Pressure Stall metrics

  • Guest IO Pressure Stall/% Some
  • Guest IO Pressure Stall/% Full

Guest System metrics

  • Guest System/Process ID

Pressure Stall Metrics

Proxmox guest monitoring includes pressure stall metrics where available.

Pressure stall metrics help identify resource contention that may not be obvious from simple utilization values alone.

CPU pressure
Shows how much time tasks are delayed because CPU resources are unavailable.
Memory pressure
Shows how much time processes are delayed because memory is unavailable or reclaim activity is blocking execution.
IO pressure
Shows how much time tasks are blocked by disk or storage I/O.

The % Some metric indicates that at least some tasks were waiting for the resource.

The % Full metric indicates that all non-idle tasks were waiting, which is usually a more severe condition.

Recommended Monitoring Workflow

Use this sequence when adding Proxmox VE monitoring:

Add or discover Proxmox node

Add the Proxmox node to the Network Atlas or let NetCrunch discover it automatically.

Enable Proxmox VE OS monitoring

Set the OS monitoring type to Proxmox VE if it was not detected automatically.

Provide Proxmox credentials

Use an API token or username and password with the PVEAuditor role assigned at /.

Add the detected cluster

After credentials are verified, NetCrunch detects the Proxmox cluster and prompts you to add it for monitoring.

Enable automatic node creation

Use Create atlas nodes for Proxmox nodes to add Proxmox cluster nodes automatically.

Enable guest discovery

Use Create nodes for guests to add virtual machines and containers to the Atlas automatically when their IP addresses are known.

Review alerts and monitoring packs

Check the automatically assigned monitoring packages and adjust thresholds if your Proxmox environment has unusual resource usage patterns.

Best Practices

Use API tokens
Prefer API tokens instead of username and password authentication.
Assign minimum required permissions
Use the PVEAuditor role at / for read-only monitoring access.
Monitor both cluster and nodes
Cluster monitoring detects shared infrastructure problems, while node monitoring detects host-level resource issues.
Enable Guest Agent for QEMU VMs
Without the Proxmox Guest Agent, the IP address of a QEMU virtual machine may not be available to NetCrunch.
Review datastore thresholds
Storage alerts should reflect your operational policy. Small Proxmox environments may require different free-space thresholds than large clusters.
Watch IO Wait and pressure stall metrics
High CPU usage alone does not explain every performance problem. IO Wait and pressure stall metrics help identify storage and scheduling bottlenecks.
Add guests to the Atlas when useful
Guest nodes provide better visibility, but only add them automatically when IP addressing and naming are reliable.

Troubleshooting

Cluster is not detected

Check the following:

  • The Proxmox API is reachable from the NetCrunch Server or Probe
  • The credentials are valid
  • The user or token has the PVEAuditor role assigned at /
  • The selected Proxmox node is a member of the expected cluster

Proxmox nodes are not added automatically

Check whether Create atlas nodes for Proxmox nodes is enabled.

Also verify that NetCrunch can resolve and reach the Proxmox node addresses returned by the Proxmox API.

Guest systems are not added automatically

Check whether Create nodes for guests is enabled.

For QEMU virtual machines, verify that:

  • Proxmox Guest Agent is installed
  • Proxmox Guest Agent is running
  • Proxmox reports the guest IP address through the API

For LXC containers, verify that Proxmox can report the container network address.

Guest metrics are incomplete

Some metrics depend on guest type and Proxmox data availability.

For example:

  • Guest swap metrics are available only for LXC containers
  • Guest IP detection for QEMU VMs requires the Guest Agent
  • Pressure stall metrics depend on guest and host support

Summary

NetCrunch Proxmox monitoring provides hierarchical visibility across the full Proxmox VE stack.

It monitors:

  • Proxmox clusters
  • Proxmox nodes
  • Datastores and storage usage
  • Ceph health
  • QEMU virtual machines
  • LXC containers
  • Guest resource usage and pressure stall conditions

By combining cluster-level monitoring, node-level monitoring, and automatic guest discovery, NetCrunch gives administrators a complete operational view of Proxmox infrastructure from one place.