If you've been following the virtualization market lately, you know things have gotten... interesting. The Broadcom takeover of VMware sent shockwaves through the IT world, with price increases that had many of us doing a double-take. Suddenly, alternatives like Proxmox VE started looking a lot more attractive. And you weren't the only ones thinking that.
We heard you loud and clear. Over on our Paessler User Voice platform, the request for Proxmox monitoring capabilities gathered serious momentum. IT administrators migrating from VMware wanted the same monitoring capabilities they had before, just for their new Proxmox infrastructure. That made sense. You shouldn't have to compromise on visibility just because you're switching hypervisors.
So we got to work. Today, we're introducing two new sensors specifically designed for Proxmox VE: the Proxmox VE Virtual Machine Status sensor and the Proxmox VE Container Status sensor. Both sensors are currently in beta, which means you get early access to test them in your environment - and your feedback will help shape their final release. Let's talk about what they do and why they matter for your day-to-day operations.
Proxmox VE has come a long way. What started as an open-source project back in 2005 now manages over 1.5 million hosts across more than 140 countries. That's not just hobbyists tinkering in home labs anymore (though there's plenty of that too). We're talking about real production environments, businesses of all sizes running their critical workloads on Proxmox.
But here's the thing - until now, there hasn't been an officially supported monitoring solution that integrates seamlessly with tools you're already using. Many of you mentioned in the Paessler User Voice comments that you've been making do with Zabbix or piecing together custom solutions. That works, but it's another system to maintain, another interface to check, another potential point of failure.
Let's get into the specifics. We've built two sensors because Proxmox handles two different types of workloads - and they need different approaches to monitoring.
This sensor gives you complete visibility into your virtual machines running on Proxmox. We've focused on the metrics that actually matter when you're trying to keep services running smoothly. Each VM sensor tracks:
CPU usage
RAM usage
Memory consumption
I/O performance
VM status and health
The sensor channels are intentionally limited to a maximum of 10, so you can quickly spot changes in metrics without getting overwhelmed by data. Everything is visible at a glance in your PRTG dashboard.
Think about it this way - when someone from the business side asks why the ERP system feels sluggish, you can immediately see if the VM is maxing out its CPU or if disk I/O is becoming a bottleneck. No SSH sessions, no command-line digging, just the answer right there in PRTG alongside all your other infrastructure monitoring.
Containers are a different beast, and that's where the second sensor comes in. LXC containers in Proxmox are lightweight, they spin up faster than VMs, and they're perfect for certain workloads. But they still need monitoring.
This sensor tracks the same critical metrics, but optimized for the container environment:
CPU usage
RAM usage
Memory consumption
I/O performance
Container status and health
Just like with the VM sensor, you get immediate visibility when a container goes down or starts behaving abnormally. No digging through logs or SSH sessions required.
If you're new to Proxmox or coming from a purely VMware background, the container option might be unfamiliar territory. Here's the quick version: Proxmox uses KVM for full virtual machines (complete operating systems with their own kernel) and LXC for containers (lightweight, sharing the host's kernel but isolated from each other).
VMs give you complete isolation and let you run different operating systems side by side. Containers are much more resource-efficient because they share the host kernel. You can run more containers on the same hardware compared to VMs, but you're limited to Linux-based systems.
In practice? You might run your database server in a VM for maximum isolation and security, while your web application frontends live in containers for better resource utilization. Both approaches have their place, and now you can monitor both with PRTG.
The real value here isn't just having another sensor in PRTG. It's about consolidation. If you've recently migrated from VMware to Proxmox (or you're in the middle of that journey), you already know how many moving parts are involved. The last thing you need is to also rebuild your entire monitoring infrastructure from scratch.
With these new sensors, you keep using PRTG the way you always have. Same dashboards, same alert workflows, same reporting. Your network switches, your servers, your applications, and now your Proxmox infrastructure - all visible in one place. When something goes wrong at 3 AM, you're not juggling multiple monitoring tools trying to piece together what happened.
The sensors integrate with PRTG's existing features too. Set up threshold-based alerts so you get notified before a VM runs out of memory. Create custom dashboards that show your Proxmox environment alongside your network performance. Generate reports that give management the overview they need without overwhelming them with technical details.
Setting up the sensors follows the same process you're used to with other PRTG sensors. Add your Proxmox host as a device, configure the authentication (the sensors use the Proxmox API), and PRTG will start pulling in the metrics automatically. No agents to install on your VMs or containers, no complex configuration files to edit.
Both sensors work with the multi-platform probe (version 3.6.1 or later required), giving you additional flexibility in how you monitor distributed Proxmox environments.
One thing worth noting - these sensors were built based on direct feedback from the community. The Paessler User Voice discussion that kicked this off included IT admins sharing exactly what they needed, what metrics mattered most, what would make their lives easier. That real-world input shaped how these sensors work and what they monitor. Since they're still in beta, now's a great time to test them and share your experience. Your feedback helps us fine-tune these sensors before the final release.
Proxmox is at an interesting crossroads. Some people still see it primarily as a solution for small and medium businesses or cost-conscious organizations. Others argue it's already proven itself in enterprise environments and will only continue to grow. Time will tell where it lands, but one thing is certain: the demand is there, and it's not slowing down.
The Broadcom acquisition of VMware accelerated a trend that was already starting. Organizations want more control over their infrastructure, more predictable costs, and less vendor lock-in. Proxmox offers all of that, plus the backing of a large and active community. With over 200,000 community members sharing knowledge, troubleshooting issues, and contributing to the platform's development, you're not exactly going it alone.
Whether you're already running Proxmox in production or still evaluating your options post-VMware, having proper monitoring in place isn't optional. These new sensors give you the visibility you need to run a stable, performant virtualization environment without adding complexity to your monitoring stack. And honestly, that's probably the best argument for them - they just work, the way monitoring should.
These two sensors are just the start - the Proxmox VE Node Performance sensor and Proxmox Cluster Health sensor are already in the works for upcoming releases. Ready to test the current beta sensors and monitor your Proxmox infrastructure with PRTG?
👉 Download the free trial and test the new beta sensors in your environment. Get 30 days of full access - no credit card required. Your feedback will help us make these sensors even better.
Head over to Paessler User Voice to share your experience, submit new ideas, or vote on existing feature requests - your input directly shapes what we build next.