What Proxmox Datacenter Manager is and where it stands
Proxmox Datacenter Manager (PDM) is a central interface for several independent Proxmox VE nodes and clusters and Proxmox Backup Server servers, which it calls remotes. It is a stable product, not an alpha: version 1.0 came out on 4 December 2025, and the current one is 1.1 of 28 May 2026. Older reviews about alpha and beta are out of date.
- 0.1 — alpha, 19 December 2024
- 0.9 — beta, 11 September 2025
- 1.0 — stable, 4 December 2025
- 1.1 — stable, current, 28 May 2026
The dates come from the PDM roadmap. We found no version newer than 1.1 in official sources as of 9 November 2026.
What PDM can do
PDM gives one dashboard over the whole fleet: nodes, clusters, guests and storage are visible in one place, the last known state is cached, and task logs are collected into one list. The main difference from a single-cluster panel is operations between independent clusters, above all live migration of guests.
- a common dashboard for nodes, clusters, guests and storage;
- aggregation of task logs and basic power operations;
- update management from the central panel;
- live migration of guests between independent clusters;
- central EVPN SDN: zones and VNets;
- sign-in through LDAP, AD and OpenID Connect, API tokens, RBAC and custom views;
- ACME certificates and shared shell access to remotes;
- in version 1.1: automated installations, central subscription management and unified Ceph monitoring.
How migration of a running virtual machine inside one cluster works is covered in the article on live migration in Proxmox. And if you automate some operations with scripts, see the article on automating Proxmox through the API.
What PDM cannot do
Conclusion from the documentation: PDM does not replace a cluster. According to the documentation it manages independent nodes and clusters; it does not create a shared cluster with quorum and an HA manager. Remotes stay self-contained and work without it. PDM has no high availability of its own either.
- There is no shared quorum or HA manager: automatic restart of guests after a node failure remains the job of the Proxmox VE cluster inside the remote.
- There is no high availability of its own: the roadmap only speaks of evaluating an active-standby setup for PDM itself; two copies side by side already cover this in practice at the cost of doubled metric collection.
- Replication between sites exists only in plans, and the roadmap itself calls it "not HA": it is meant for manual recovery after a datacenter failure.
- Not implemented as of the 1.1 roadmap: folders and tags, flexible ACLs, bulk actions on guests, a backup job overview, a remote guest console, firewall management, notifications from PDM itself.
The words "high availability" on the product page refer to live migration between clusters. Automatic restart of guests after a site failure is not described in the documentation.
Who needs PDM
PDM is for setups with several independent clusters or sites, where switching between interfaces has become tedious. For a single node or a single cluster it is usually excessive. For a shared quorum and automatic restart of guests it does not fit at all.
| Situation | Is PDM needed |
|---|---|
| One node or one cluster | Usually not: the standard Proxmox VE interface is enough |
| Several independent clusters or sites | Yes: one dashboard and live migration between them |
| You need a shared quorum and automatic restart of guests | No: that is a Proxmox VE cluster |
How to build a real cluster with quorum is described in the article on setting up a Proxmox cluster.
Proxmox version requirements
The minimum supported versions of remotes are Proxmox VE 8.4 and Proxmox Backup Server 3.4. This is stated in the PDM 1.1 release announcement on the Proxmox forum (a post by a company employee), not in the manual, so check the current documentation before you deploy. Shell access to a remote through API tokens works from PVE 9.1 and PBS 4.1.
If your nodes are still on version 8, the upgrade order is described in the article on upgrading Proxmox VE from 8 to 9.
Installation and resource requirements
PDM is installed in two ways: from an ISO image (the recommended way is installing from a USB stick, with a wizard and an automated installation from an answer file) or as a package on top of a clean Debian 13 "Trixie". Version 1.1 is based on Debian 13.5. The system is updated with plain apt full-upgrade.
| Resource | Minimum, for evaluation only | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 64-bit | 2 cores or more |
| Memory | 1 GiB | 4 GiB or more |
| Disk | over 10 GB | 40 GB or more |
apt update
apt install proxmox-datacenter-manager-metaThe proxmox-datacenter-manager-meta package installs PDM with the Proxmox kernel and ZFS, and proxmox-datacenter-manager-container-meta installs it with the Debian kernel. Add the Proxmox repository beforehand, following the PDM documentation.
How to try it without risk
Start with a trial installation on a separate virtual machine or server, not on a node that PDM will control. At this stage PDM changes nothing in your clusters until you start an operation yourself.
- Install PDM on a separate machine with resources no lower than the recommended ones.
- Sign in to the web interface and add the first remote following the documentation.
- Check the dashboard, the state cache and the common task list.
- Set up sign-in through LDAP or OpenID Connect and RBAC roles for your team.
- Try live migration between two clusters on a test virtual machine first.
License and repositories
PDM is distributed under the AGPLv3 license. There is no separate subscription key for PDM itself. According to the documentation FAQ the enterprise repository is available if at least 80 % of the configured remotes hold a valid Basic or higher subscription; the wording may change, so check the FAQ. For production Proxmox recommends a subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Is PDM still an alpha or a beta?
No. Version 1.0 came out on 4 December 2025, and the current one is 1.1 of 28 May 2026. Articles about alpha and beta describe the 2024 and 2025 versions.
Does PDM replace a Proxmox VE cluster?
No. According to the documentation PDM manages independent nodes and clusters; it does not create a shared cluster with quorum and an HA manager. This is a conclusion from the documentation, not a quotation from it.
Do I need a subscription to use PDM?
There is no separate key for PDM. A subscription is needed for the enterprise repository: it is available if at least 80 % of the remotes hold a Basic or higher subscription.
What should ZevsHost customers do?
On shared hosting the hypervisor is not accessible to you and PDM is not needed. On a VPS or dedicated server the decision and the installation are up to the owner, depending on how many clusters you run.