Migrating from an existing Proxmox VE to PXVIRT with preserved data

[xiwangly2]

I want to know how to do this. I think this is a question worth exploring. I don't want to spend a lot of manpower to back up Proxmox VE and then install PXVIRT. I hope there is a faster way to smoothly migrate to PXVIRT.

[xiwangly2]

Note: official script:

https://github.com/jiangcuo/Pxvirt-docs/blob/main/pxvirt-tools.sh

The following is my own attempt

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Guide: How to Replace Proxmox VE with PXVIRT

PXVIRT is a custom backend-enhanced Proxmox VE variant developed by LierFang, compatible with PVE 8.x systems.

This guide helps you uninstall the original Proxmox VE packages and install PXVIRT in a clean and safe way.

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Tested on:

• Base system: Proxmox VE 8.x (Debian 12 bookworm)
• Target: PXVIRT 8.3

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Steps

1. Comment out the original Proxmox repositories

nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

Add # in front of the line like:

# deb https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-enterprise

Also check if you have /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list and comment it too.

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2. Add PXVIRT GPG key and repository

curl -L https://download.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt/pveport.gpg -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/pveport.gpg

Then add the PXVIRT repository:

nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pxvirt.list

Paste this:

deb https://download.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt bookworm main
deb https://download.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt bookworm ceph-squid

Save and close.

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3. Allow uninstall of proxmox-ve

By default, PVE prevents uninstall of core packages. Allow it by:

touch /please-remove-proxmox-ve

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4. Remove the original PVE packages

apt purge -y proxmox-ve pve-manager pve-qemu-kvm pve-container pve-firewall pve-ha-manager pve-cluster qemu-server libpve-*
apt autoremove --purge -y

Note: It is safe to ignore "package not installed" warnings for older kernels.

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5. Install PXVIRT

apt update
apt install proxmox-ve -y

PXVIRT packages like pve-kernel-6.*.*, pve-manager, and enhanced backends will be installed.

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6. Reboot into new kernel

reboot

After reboot, check the kernel:

uname -r

You should see something like 6.*.*-pve or 6.*.*-openeuler.

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Done!

You are now running PXVIRT — a powerful, API-rich variant of Proxmox VE.

For more updates and backend API enhancements, follow:

• https://download.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt

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If you find this useful, consider sharing this guide in GitHub Discussions or wiki pages.

[MrAn0nym]

are LXCs/VMs and configuration preserved this way or would i have to restore them manually?

[xiwangly2]

Yes, your VMs and LXCs will be preserved.

[Steve-Tech]

I was using the ARM64 version of Proxmox-Port on a Raspberry Pi 5, but this is all I did to upgrade:

# Disable the old repos
mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pveport.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pveport.list.bak
# Add new repos
sudo curl -L https://download.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt/pveport.gpg -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/pveport.gpg
echo "deb https://download.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt bookworm main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pxvirt.list
# Update and upgrade packages
sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
# If pxvirt-spdk failed to install, just run full-upgrade again:
sudo apt full-upgrade
# Done! Probably a good idea to reboot.

[xiwangly2]

Thanks for sharing! Just a quick note. while a direct full-upgrade works, Proxmox VE and PXVIRT have some differences, especially in permission management and VM configuration. This may cause certain features or interfaces to behave unexpectedly.

To avoid such issues, I recommend:

Removing Proxmox VE packages first, then installing PXVIRT cleanly

Backing up your VMs and configs just in case (though VM data is preserved)

[ExHo7]

I have follow the official steps and it work properly. All VM's are preserved. (tested on ARM64 on RPI5)

[dandycyclone]

I can confirm, method suggested by @Steve-Tech works well. Caution of course should be exercised, but in general all Proxmox VE packages are smoothly replaced/upgraded by PXVIRT ones. I haven't noticed any side effects, yet :)

[giggio]

I was a bit skeptical, but the migration script worked perfectly. The server was back up even before rebooting, and after rebooting it continued to work.
Good job!

[ExHo7]

Me too but we need to recognize it work very well ! Thanks

[chubirdh]

I upgrade kupeng920 node one by one in a three nodes cluster
according to the method suggested by @Steve-Tech. Although promox-port 8.3.2 and pxvirt 8.4.18 can coexisted in the same cluster ,but there are some problems with the clusters, such as some KVM machine can't be migrated online between nodes. After all nodes are upgraded, these problems are resovled.