pve-faq.adoc

   1 Frequently Asked Questions
   2 ==========================
   3 ifndef::manvolnum[]
   4 :pve-toplevel:
   5 endif::manvolnum[]
   6 ifdef::wiki[]
   7 :title: FAQ
   8 endif::wiki[]
   9
  10 NOTE: New FAQs are appended to the bottom of this section.
  11
  12 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  13 ADD NEW FAQS TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS SECTION TO MAINTAIN NUMBERING
  14 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  15
  16 [qanda]
  17
  18 What distribution is {pve} based on?::
  19
  20 {pve} is based on http://www.debian.org[Debian GNU/Linux]
  21
  22 What license does the {pve} project use?::
  23
  24 {pve} code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License,
  25 version 3.
  26
  27 Will {pve} run on a 32bit processor?::
  28
  29 {pve} works only on 64-bit CPUs (AMD or Intel). There is no plan
  30 for 32-bit for the platform.
  31 +
  32 NOTE: VMs and Containers can be both 32-bit and/or 64-bit.
  33
  34 Does my CPU support virtualization?::
  35
  36 To check if your CPU is virtualization compatible, check for the `vmx`
  37 or `svm` tag in this command output:
  38 +
  39 ----
  40 egrep '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
  41 ----
  42
  43 Supported Intel CPUs::
  44
  45 64-bit processors with
  46 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization_Technology#Intel_virtualization_.28VT-x.29[Intel
  47 Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x)] support. (http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced/?s=t&VTX=true&InstructionSet=64-bit[List of processors with Intel VT and 64-bit])
  48
  49 Supported AMD CPUs::
  50
  51 64-bit processors with
  52 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization_Technology#AMD_virtualization_.28AMD-V.29[AMD
  53 Virtualization Technology (AMD-V)] support.
  54
  55 What is a container, CT, VE, Virtual Private Server, VPS?::
  56
  57 Operating-system-level virtualization is a server-virtualization
  58 method where the kernel of an operating system allows for multiple
  59 isolated user-space instances, instead of just one. We call such
  60 instances containers. As containers use the host's kernel they are
  61 limited to Linux guests.
  62
  63 What is a QEMU/KVM guest (or VM)?::
  64
  65 A QEMU/KVM guest (or VM) is a guest system running virtualized under
  66 {pve} using QEMU and the Linux KVM kernel module.
  67
  68 What is QEMU?::
  69
  70 QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and
  71 virtualizer. QEMU uses the Linux KVM kernel module to achieve near
  72 native performance by executing the guest code directly on the host
  73 CPU.
  74 It is not limited to Linux guests but allows arbitrary operating systems
  75 to run.
  76
  77 How long will my {pve} version be supported?::
  78
  79 {pve} versions are supported at least as long as the corresponding
  80 Debian Version is
  81 https://wiki.debian.org/DebianOldStable[oldstable]. {pve} uses a
  82 rolling release model and using the latest stable version is always
  83 recommended.
  84 +
  85 [width="100%",cols="5*d",options="header"]
  86 |===========================================================
  87 | {pve} Version | Debian Version    | First Release | Debian EOL | Proxmox EOL
  88 | {pve} 4.x     | Debian 8 (Jessie) | 2015-10       | 2018-05    | tba
  89 | {pve} 3.x     | Debian 7 (Wheezy) | 2013-05       | 2016-04    | 2017-02
  90 | {pve} 2.x     | Debian 6 (Squeeze)| 2012-04       | 2014-05    | 2014-05
  91 | {pve} 1.x     | Debian 5 (Lenny)  | 2008-10       | 2012-03    | 2013-01
  92 |===========================================================
  93
  94 LXC vs LXD vs Proxmox Containers vs Docker::
  95
  96 LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment
  97 features. Through a powerful API and simple tools, it lets Linux users
  98 easily create and manage system containers. LXC, as well as the former
  99 OpenVZ, aims at *system virtualization*, i.e. allows you to run a
 100 complete OS inside a container, where you log in as ssh, add users,
 101 run apache, etc...
 102 +
 103 LXD is building on top of LXC to provide a new, better user
 104 experience. Under the hood, LXD uses LXC through `liblxc` and its Go
 105 binding to create and manage the containers. It's basically an
 106 alternative to LXC's tools and distribution template system with the
 107 added features that come from being controllable over the network.
 108 +
 109 Proxmox Containers also aims at *system virtualization*, and thus uses
 110 LXC as the basis of its own container offer. The Proxmox Container
 111 Toolkit is called `pct`, and is tightly coupled with {pve}. That means
 112 that it is aware of the cluster setup, and it can use the same network
 113 and storage resources as fully virtualized VMs. You can even use the
 114 {pve} firewall, create and restore backups, or manage containers using
 115 the HA framework. Everything can be controlled over the network using
 116 the {pve} API.
 117 +
 118 Docker aims at running a *single* application running in a contained
 119 environment. Hence you're managing a docker instance from the host with the
 120 docker toolkit. It is not recommended to run docker directly on your
 121 {pve} host.
 122 +
 123 NOTE: You can however perfectly install and use docker inside a Proxmox Qemu
 124 VM, and thus getting the benefit of software containerization with the very
 125 strong isolation that VMs provide.