Requirements & Prerequisites

Welcome to the VirtCentral Enterprise documentation! Before installing the VirtCentral Management Appliance, please ensure that your environment meets the following hardware, software, and network requirements.

1. Supported Hypervisor Environments

VirtCentral is designed to manage and seamlessly integrate both new and already existing Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE) setups without disrupting running workloads.

• Proxmox VE Version: Proxmox VE 7.x, 8.x, and the latest 9.x.
• Architecture: Fully supports both Cluster mode and Standalone Nodes. Existing infrastructure can be attached at any time.
• Access Requirements:
  • API Token or root credentials with Administrator role permissions.
  • Root SSH access (port 22) to all managed nodes (required for advanced storage operations and bulk migrations).

2. VirtCentral Management Appliance (Host)

VirtCentral itself runs as a lightweight, pre-compiled daemon. It should ideally be deployed on an independent VM or a dedicated management server outside of the cluster it manages, ensuring availability during complete cluster outages.

Hardware Specifications

Supported Operating Systems

• Linux: Debian 12 / Debian 13, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS, RHEL 9+ (via linux-amd64 bundle)
• Windows: Windows Server 2019 / 2022 / 2025 (via windows-amd64 bundle)

3. Database Backend Requirements

VirtCentral requires a database to store inventory, tasks, metrics, and HA configuration. You have two options depending on your scale:

• SQLite (Default): Zero-configuration, file-based database. Perfect for small to medium environments or single-appliance setups.
• PostgreSQL 15+ (Enterprise): Highly recommended for massive scale environments, intense DRS metrics logging, or when deploying VirtCentral in a High Availability (Active-Passive) controller setup.

4. Network & Connectivity Requirements

For VirtCentral to communicate with your Proxmox infrastructure and clients, specific network flows must be permitted.

Inbound (To VirtCentral)

• TCP 8000: Web Interface (Frontend) and API endpoints. (Can be placed behind a reverse proxy like NGINX or HAProxy on port 443).

Outbound (From VirtCentral to Proxmox Nodes)

• TCP 8006: Proxmox VE REST API.
• TCP 22: SSH access to Proxmox nodes (for backend automation).
• TCP 3128 / 5900-5999: VNC / WebSocket proxies (if direct VM console routing is utilized).

External Access (Optional)

• License Server: Outbound HTTP/HTTPS access for online license activation and checking for automatic software updates.
• Note: VirtCentral fully supports strictly Air-Gapped environments. Offline licenses (.vclic) and offline update bundles (.vcbundle) can be manually uploaded without requiring any internet access.

5. Required Information & Materials

Have the following items ready before starting the setup wizard:

1. VirtCentral License: A valid Enterprise License Key (or your offline .vclic file).
2. DNS & IP Planning: A static IP address or dedicated FQDN (e.g., virtcentral.yourdomain.internal) for the appliance.
3. Proxmox Credentials: PAM root credentials or a highly privileged API Token to initially link the cluster.