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commands_qm_pct.md

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Basic qm and pct commands

We can use the command line by accessing the pve directly or via ssh, as root. The following are basic commands to handle the VMs and CTs.

VM commands

qm command, which stands for qemu manager, is the command we'll use to manage VMs. You can check man qm for more info.

qm list

Lists all the VMs.

root@pve:~# qm list
      VMID NAME                 STATUS     MEM(MB)    BOOTDISK(GB) PID       
       100 webserver            stopped    1024              16.00 0         
       101 webserver-1          stopped    1024              16.00 0         
       102 webserver-2          stopped    1024              16.00 0

qm start VMID

Start a VM by its ID number

root@pve:~# qm start 101
generating cloud-init ISO

By the previous example of qm list we dont have a way to know which of the listed VMs is a template, if we try to start one by mistake we get this error message

root@pve:~# qm start 100
you can't start a vm if it's a template

qm shutdown VMID

Shutdown a VM by its ID number

root@pve:~# qm shutdown 101
root@pve:~#

qm reboot VMID

Reboot a VM by its ID number

root@pve:~# qm reboot 101
root@pve:~#

These next 2 commands are potentially destructive, but we can use them when a VM is misbehaving and wont shutdown or reboot gracefully.

qm reset VMID

Reset a VM by its ID number. Unlike reboot, reset is abrupt.

root@pve:~# qm reset 101
root@pve:~#

qm stop VMID

Stop a VM by its ID number. Unlike shutdown, stop is abrupt.

root@pve:~# qm stop 101
root@pve:~#

Configuring VM options using qm set --option value VMID

Set start on boot to NO (0) or YES (1)

root@pve:~# qm set --onboot 0 101
update VM 101: -onboot 0

root@pve:~# qm set --onboot 1 101
update VM 101: -onboot 1

qm config VMID

Shows information about the VM and options we can modify

root@pve:~# qm config 101
agent: 1
boot: order=scsi0;ide2;net0;ide0
cipassword: **********
ciuser: anthony
cores: 1
ide0: local-lvm:vm-101-cloudinit,media=cdrom,size=4M
ide2: none,media=cdrom
memory: 1024
meta: creation-qemu=6.2.0,ctime=1654044025
name: webserver-1
net0: virtio=CA:E0:F0:66:7F:E9,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1
numa: 0
onboot: 1
ostype: l26
scsi0: local-lvm:vm-101-disk-0,discard=on,size=16G
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=59ef4643-a29b-4e67-b8c6-e2e14983a79f
sockets: 1
vmgenid: b89ebfd8-a338-4567-9830-f1e5ccb8d669

Back to qm set now that we saw some options.

Modifying memory:

root@pve:~# qm set --memory 2048 101
update VM 101: -memory 2048

CT commands

pct command which stands for proxmox container toolkit.

pct list

Lists all the CTs. Even though it says VMID is the CT ID number.

root@pve:~# pct list
VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
103        stopped                 webserver-ct        
104        stopped                 webserver-ct-1      
105        stopped                 webserver-ct-2

pct config VMID

Shows information/options about the CT we can modify

root@pve:~# pct config 104
arch: amd64
cores: 1
features: nesting=1
hostname: webserver-ct-1
memory: 512
net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1,hwaddr=E2:A0:B2:B2:69:13,ip=dhcp,ip6=dhcp,type=veth
onboot: 1
ostype: ubuntu
rootfs: local-lvm:vm-104-disk-0,size=8G
swap: 512
unprivileged: 1

pct start VMID

Starting CTs by ID number

root@pve:~# pct start 103
you can't start a CT if it's a template

root@pve:~# pct start 104
root@pve:~#

pct shutdown VMID

Shutdown a CT by its ID number

root@pve:~# pct shutdown 104
root@pve:~#

pct reboot VMID

Reboot a CT by its ID number

root@pve:~# pct reboot 104
root@pve:~#

Opening a shell in the container with pct enter VMID

root@pve:~# pct enter 104
root@webserver-ct-1:~#

Configuring VM options using pct set VMID -option value

Notice in the syntax -option here uses 1 dash(-) instead of 2 like qm

Set start on boot to NO (0) or YES (1)

root@pve:~# pct set 104 -onboot 0 
root@pve:~#

root@pve:~# pct set 104 -onboot 1
root@pve:~#