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name: virtual-machine-management description: Create, manage, and optimize virtual machines in Proxmox. Control VM lifecycle, monitor performance, adjust resources, and plan VM deployment strategies.

Virtual Machine Management Skill

Create, manage, and optimize virtual machines in your Proxmox environment.

What this skill does

This skill enables you to:

• List virtual machines on specific nodes
• Get detailed VM configuration and status
• Start, stop, reboot, suspend, and resume virtual machines
• Create new virtual machines with basic or advanced configuration
• Clone existing virtual machines
• Delete virtual machines
• Modify VM resource allocation
• Monitor VM performance metrics
• Manage VM snapshots
• Plan VM deployment strategies
• Optimize resource allocation

When to use this skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Check VM status and configuration
• Manage VM lifecycle (start/stop/reboot)
• Monitor VM performance and resource usage
• Adjust VM resources (CPU, memory, storage)
• Create new virtual machines
• Troubleshoot VM issues
• Plan VM migrations
• Optimize VM placement

Available Tools

• get_vms - List all VMs on a specific node
• get_vm_status - Get detailed VM status and configuration
• get_vm_config - Get full VM configuration details
• start_vm - Start a virtual machine
• stop_vm - Stop a VM immediately
• shutdown_vm - Gracefully shutdown a VM
• reboot_vm - Reboot a virtual machine
• suspend_vm - Suspend (pause) a running VM
• resume_vm - Resume a suspended VM
• create_vm - Create a new virtual machine with basic configuration
• create_vm_advanced - Create a VM with advanced configuration options
• clone_vm - Clone an existing virtual machine
• update_vm_config - Update VM configuration (resources, options, mark as template)
• delete_vm - Delete a virtual machine

Template VM Creation

Creating template VMs allows you to quickly deploy preconfigured virtual machines:

Workflow: Create a Template VM

1. Create or prepare a base VM

   • Use create_vm_advanced or clone from an existing VM
   • Install and configure the OS and applications
   • Test thoroughly before templating

2. Update VM as Template

   • Use update_vm_config with template: 1 to mark as template

   Copy{
     "template": 1
   }
   

3. Clone from Template

   • Use clone_vm to create instances from the template
   • Template VMs cannot be directly used as running instances
   • Each clone becomes a full, independent VM

Example: Mark VM as Template

Copy# First, prepare your VM (install OS, apps, configure)
# Then mark it as a template:
update_vm_config(node="pve2", vmid=100, config={"template": 1})

Example: Clone from Template

Copy# Clone the template to create a new VM
clone_vm(node="pve2", source_vmid=100, new_vmid=200, new_name="web-server-01", full=true)

Typical Workflows

VM Lifecycle Management

1. Use get_vms to list available VMs
2. Use get_vm_status or get_vm_config to check VM state
3. Use start/stop/reboot/suspend/resume to manage VM operations
4. Monitor VM health during changes

VM Creation & Configuration

1. Use create_vm or create_vm_advanced to provision new VM
2. Use get_vm_status to verify configuration
3. Use clone_vm to create copies for testing or deployment
4. Use get_vm_config to review detailed settings
5. Document VM details for reference

VM Lifecycle Operations

1. Use suspend_vm to pause a running VM (preserves state)
2. Use resume_vm to resume operations from suspended state
3. Use shutdown_vm for graceful shutdown
4. Use reboot_vm to restart VM
5. Use stop_vm for immediate termination if needed

VM Troubleshooting

1. Use get_vm_status to check VM health
2. Use reboot/restart to recover from issues
3. Use snapshots to rollback problematic changes
4. Analyze performance metrics for root cause

Example Questions

• "List all VMs on the production node"
• "What's the status and resource usage of VM 100?"
• "Get the full configuration of VM 105"
• "Start the web server VM"
• "Create a new VM with 4 cores and 8GB RAM"
• "Clone VM 100 to create a test copy"
• "Mark VM 100 as a template for future deployments"
• "Clone the template VM 100 to create web-server-01"
• "Update VM 105 to use 16GB RAM"
• "Suspend VM 200 for maintenance"
• "Resume VM 200 to continue operations"
• "Gracefully shutdown VM 150"
• "Delete VM 199 and remove all data"

Response Format

When using this skill, I provide:

• VM listings with status and resource allocation
• Detailed VM configuration and performance metrics
• Status confirmations for VM operations
• Resource utilization analysis
• Optimization recommendations

Best Practices

• Monitor VM performance regularly
• Use cloning for quick VM deployment
• Create VMs with appropriate resource allocation
• Use suspend/resume for temporary pauses
• Use graceful shutdown to minimize data loss
• Plan resource allocation carefully
• Balance VMs across nodes
• Implement high-availability for critical VMs
• Keep VM templates updated
• Document VM configuration and purpose
• Test changes in non-production first
• Monitor disk usage to prevent full disks
• Clean up unused VMs to conserve resources