I’m really enjoying Proxmox VE, but there are things about the UI that I just can’t stand! Instead of complaining about them and calling it a day, I want to show you what I think should be changed and how much BETTER Proxmox could be to use! Welcome to my vision for a better Proxmox!
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**Chapters**
0:00 Introduction
0:46 Proxmox needs a DRS equivalent first and foremost.
1:19 My disclaimer
1:49 Why can’t we use spaces for names?
2:20 A look at the existing Proxmox GUI and how to make it better
2:53 Let’s remove the VM tags from the navigation pane
3:18 Let’s remove the VMIDs from the navigation pane
3:30 Let’s add folders and subfolders to the folder view!
4:32 Let’s fix the virtual machine list view!
5:03 How about the ability to select multiple VMs at a time!
5:24 We need an export function!
5:50 Cleaning up the submenu!
7:00 My vision for a better Proxmox!
8:45 Closing!
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Hi, Proxmox (UI) dev here. First, thanks for the Feedback! Always good to hear what users like and don't like.
Now to some points of your video:
* spaces in vm names is a bit weird, because we reuse that config for cloudinits 'hostname' option and hostnames can't have spaces/special characters. we could maybe introduce a new field for that, but that would have to wait until a major release since it's a breaking change (maybe open a bug report for that)
* you can already hide the tags in the tree under Datacenter -> Options -> Tag Style Override, there you can select "None" for the tree
* hiding the vmid could also be a nice gui option, iff they are sorted by name
* folder structure: i want to have something like that in the ui too, but not sure how to approach that. i though maybe a tag view + nested tags make more sense?
* as for the 'type' column: we do have qemu and lxc guests, but i agree in case of the folder view that distinction there doesn't make much sense (in other views it does though)
* csv export should not be hard to implement
* the vertical menu: about 7-8 years ago we did have something like what you showed, but we purposefully changed that, since most monitors are widescreen (e.g. 16:9, 21:9, etc) so using the horizontal space instead seems like a good idea. also the menu flow is a bit more logical: always from left to right to get more specific
* showing the notes in the summary page can make sense, i agree
* a health panel (or page) is on our todo list, did not have time for that (yet)
feel free to open feature requests for the stuff missing, then all our devs can see them and chime in for the discussion: https://bugzilla.proxmox.com
thanks again for providing feedback!
6:55 I'm not liking this. lol. that's so… FIDDLY. I have to hover over things and can't see what's there until I hover over it first? oof, no. folders, tho? folders are a very good move. also you forgot something: there's only ever one "datacenter." this, imo, is goofy. it's a great opportunity to be able to have multi-datacenter management in a single pane of glass.
I really hope Proxmox does your GUI changes.
It is really Proxmox DEV's take on your ideas.
Your ideas really makes the UI really modern and usable.
I agree as an Admin there are things missing that would just make life easier. Having to drop to the SHELL to get info is a Pain.
Not to mention the GUI option of putting a Host into Maintenance mode. Yes i know it can be done via CLI BUT at least add it to the GUI.
I've been complaining about this (and the dreadful "new vm" dialogue) for years. the UX/UI team at Proxmox really need to use vCenter for a couple of days to get an idea of how things should look.
Don't ESX my Proxmox.
Love the Product but it needs This to make the user experience complete Awesome Video !!!!!!!!!
Yes, Proxmox does seem to suffer from "Designed by programmers" or maybe the frontend javascript library they use is limiting.
Either way these are great suggestions (personally I like VMID's being visible as I refer to them from the terminal all the time)
Great analysis!
I love these changes. It gives the UI a polished look and feel. Like may others have stated it does give it some VMware vibes, but it isn't a bad things.
They could easily make most of this just another theme so if you like the legacy way, stick with that. If you like the more modern cleaner look than you go with that
Were even some of this happen. I would absolutely rethink XCP-ng. I am coming from an Enterprise production VMware environment.
I agree with what you've proposed. Would be good if they added a way to make the fonts bigger too. However, even with what you want, the UI still looks like it was made during Windows XP days. Better HTML pages with updated Bootstrap 5 would really set it off.
It's opensource. You could submit a PR.
my takeaways and opinions on the video:
– vm names with spaces: meh, could be nice but pretty sure you can already use underscores in names which is one of the options you stated (spaces, underscores, hyphens). Personally what I'd like is the options for capital letters.
– hidding vm/ct tags: dunno why your commenting on this, that's just a UI toggle in the datacenter options as far as I'm aware, personall preferance I'd say and it's easier to "show all" and let ppl disable it rather than disable it by default and make them look for a way to enable it.
– folders: could be useful, then again tags sort of act as folders depending on which view your in.
– editing multiple vms/cts: ngl seems like a useful feature for some tasks like bulk setting vlans or changing the vmbr/sdn the vms/cts are connected to.
– moving the vm/ct settings/configuration panel to the top of the screen: I'm meh on this, it would look clean, until you have to enter a submenu or sub-submenu, i don't like the idea of hover menus as they can be a pita to use in some situations like slow desktop or when using buggy mice. Maybe a togleable configuration panel would make sense so you can hide it when not needed, or move it to the right side of the screen so you don't have two panels next to each other.
– exporting vm/ct resources: could be done via the influxdb exporter (which is what I assume proxmox's reasoning is) but some native way to export could be nice for those who want it
– node summary page: I don't agree with all of the reasoning for the changes to the page but it does look a bit more helpful
Ooo i'm in love with the config section suggestion.
This is why I don’t leave ESXI for our lab.
We have many production proxmoxs in the wild, but they do basic virtualizations.
I managed 1000s of VMs and proxmox organization is terrible for this which is why I am married to VMware.
Good video. But it’s never going to happen for a long time.
Good stuff
I was skipping through the long and boring introduction to the point where he was whining about the VMs naming conventions, and how he as an "admin" found it weird not to be able to use spaces in VMs naming in 2024.
He really lost me there, I was like what the …
Hey wannabe-admin, a real admin won't use spaces even in naming a simple file (not even a windows noob admin), why? Well, you might want to search the following: probability issue, length, program interpretation, script, shell, source, path, etc.
Others might find your content useful, I personally apart from the clickbait title, I think you just wasted 5 minutes of my time and 10 minutes of yours.
Good luck, though.
nice video
Great suggestions. I hope the people in Proxmox are watching. I'm just afraid if it becomes too pretty, they will start charging money for it, LOL.
Actual useful input!
You are basically saying that it should look like vcenter…. I agree 💯
I definitely loved your suggested changes! Hope someone at Proxmox sees this video, and implements at least some of your ideas. 🙂
Proxmox IS the UI. And it's complete crap. Lots of other (better) ways to run KVM/QEMU.
I just want to be able to paste into the Console window.