Proxmox VE has become a go-to choice for organizations looking to run scalable, flexible, and cost-effective virtualization environments. Whether you’re managing a home lab, a hosting business, or an enterprise-grade infrastructure, Proxmox delivers a robust KVM and container platform with an intuitive interface and excellent clustering capabilities.
But what if you could supercharge your Proxmox setup with ultra-low latency, high availability, and efficient, NVMe/TCP and software-defined storage? That’s where Lightbits comes in—a powerful complement to Proxmox that redefines what’s possible in performance, scalability, and cost efficiency.
Why Proxmox + Lightbits Just Makes Sense for Storage Need
1. NVMe/TCP Storage Without the Complexity
Lightbits offers NVMe-over-TCP—delivering blazing-fast block storage over standard Ethernet. No need for Fibre Channel, RDMA, or any specialized hardware. Just standard TCP/IP and Ethernet switches. This aligns perfectly with Proxmox’s ethos of simplicity and cost-efficiency.
2. Shared Storage That Just Works
For Proxmox clusters, shared storage is often the biggest hurdle. Traditional solutions like Ceph storage can be complex and resource-hungry. NFS/iSCSI lacks performance and resilience. Lightbits offers a shared NVMe storage pool that’s highly available, easy to scale, and doesn’t require learning a whole new storage subsystem.
- No additional learning curve
- Centralized volume management
- Instant high availability across Proxmox nodes
3. Extreme Performance for Virtual Machines and Containers
With Lightbits, Proxmox workloads benefit from:
- Sub-millisecond latency
- Millions of IOPS at scale
- Consistent performance, even under heavy load
Whether you’re running databases, web services, or CI/CD pipelines, your workloads stay responsive and efficient.
4. Data Resilience Without the Cost Overhead
Lightbits brings enterprise-grade storage features like:
- Inline compression
- Thin provisioning
- Snapshots and clones
- High availability with erasure coding and replication
This is without the cost and complexity of traditional SAN/NAS systems. You get Tier-1 storage capabilities on commodity hardware.
5. Easy Integration and Management
The Proxmox community thrives on simplicity. Lightbits fits that culture:
- Native CSI support for Kubernetes if you’re running K8s VMs or LXC containers
- Seamless integration with QEMU/KVM and libvirt
- Easy management via GUI or API
Deploy, scale, and monitor Lightbits from your central console—no storage silos or operational headaches.
6. Massive Cost Savings
Lightbits lets you use your existing infrastructure—no need for expensive proprietary storage arrays or RDMA networking. Plus, its data services reduce the overall storage footprint, saving not only on CAPEX but also on OPEX (power, cooling, and rack space).
You get cloud-like capabilities without cloud-like bills.
Use Cases Where Lightbits Proxmox Block Storage Shines in a Proxmox Cloud Environment
- Private Cloud Infrastructure: Create a fast, flexible, and efficient cloud on-prem with Proxmox and Lightbits.
- High-Density Virtualization: Support dense VM and container workloads with consistent performance.
- Development/Test Environments: Spin up and tear down environments with instant provisioning from Lightbits snapshots.
- Edge Deployments: Run resilient, high-performance storage in edge data centers with minimal hardware footprint.
Proxmox VE – Final Thoughts
If you’re running or planning a Proxmox cluster and looking for a better way to handle storage, Lightbits is a no-brainer. It delivers the speed of NVMe, the scalability of the cloud, and the simplicity Proxmox users expect.
In short, Proxmox + Lightbits = powerful, flexible, and cost-effective infrastructure that scales with your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions on Proxmox VE
What are the best storage technologies for Proxmox VE?
It supports various Proxmox storage types, and the “best” one depends on the user’s specific needs, hardware, and whether they are running a single server or a cluster. File Systems are a popular choice for local storage; often recommended for single nodes and smaller clusters that use local disks. A distributed block storage system from Lightbits Labs will turn each Proxmox node into a shared, highly available storage pool; considered the gold standard for large-scale Proxmox clusters.
How should I partition my disks and configure my storage?
Many admins ask about the steps to add storage to Proxmox, configure it in the Proxmox web UI or CLI, and ensure it’s available for VM disks, ISO images, and backups. One scenario is to install Proxmox VE OS on a separate drive from the virtual machines (VMs) and containers. While a single disk installation is possible, many users and professionals recommend separating the OS from the data for easier maintenance, upgrades, and a lower risk of data loss.
How do I handle shared storage in a Proxmox cluster?
Proxmox shared storage decisions directly impact cluster stability and high availability (HA). For users with multiple Proxmox hosts, a key concern is how to provide a single, accessible storage pool for all nodes. This is essential for features like live migration, which allows you to move a running VM from one host to another without any downtime. The ability to live migrate is a major feature of Proxmox VE, and it relies on a shared storage backend that is visible to all hosts, such as that offered by Lightbits Labs. This is a common requirement for HA. Watch this on-demand webinar on how to enable live migrations.
