Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH from Vienna has published the Proxmox Virtual Environment 7.1, with the help of which virtual machines and Linux containers can be conveniently managed on one platform via a graphical web front end. The core system is now based on Debian GNU / Linux “Bullseye” 11.1 and a current Linux 5.13. QEMU 6.1 provides virtual machines, Linux containers run under LXC 4.0. Ceph Pacific 16.2.6 in combination with OpenZFS 2.1 serves as an open source and distributed storage solution.
Virtual TPM module for Windows 11
Microsoft requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 as a prerequisite for the installation of the new Windows 11. In the case of Proxmox VE 7.1, this can simply be added using a checkbox when creating the VM via the web interface. Initial tests show that the “UEFI Secure Boot” function (TPM 2.0 and UEFI) from the current QEMU 6.1 package enables Windows 11 to be installed and run smoothly. New VMs thus support “Secure Boot” verification and allow Linux distributions and Microsoft keys to be registered in advance.
The Linux containers based on LXC 4.0 now also support the current Fedora 35 and Ubuntu 21.10. Container templates can be compressed using the Zstandard compression of OpenZFS (Zstd). In order to avoid problems with systemd in the containers, the “nesting” function is activated by default for newly created unprivileged containers. This should improve the interaction with systemd versions, especially from the newer templates.
Flexible, plannable backups
Thanks to the new scheduler daemon “pvescheduler”, there is more flexible scheduling for backups. Important backups can be marked as “protected”, which prevents automatic or manual deletion without additional action. The retention periods for the backup copies can no longer only be set via extensive guidelines via the API and the command line, but from Proxmox VE 7.1 also via the web interface.
In addition, two-factor authentication (TFA) has been optimized: The developers have added WebAuthn (which replaces U2F) and one-time passwords. The TFA is configured via the web interface.
Freely available
All details about the new version can be found in den Release Notes. The Proxmox Virtual Environment 7.1 is now available for free download. It can be used as open source software at no additional cost; companies can add extensive enterprise support from 90 euros per year and CPU. A detailed look at the major release 7.0 and the base Debian 11 can be found in the iX.
(fo)
