Proxmox VE Kernel

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Introduction

Kernel versions in use in various Proxmox VE versions are listed here.

Linux Kernel

The Linux kernel is a Unix-like operating system kernel. Released under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) and developed by contributors worldwide, Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software.

Proxmox VE 8.x

The stable 8.x release uses currently the 6.2 kernel since Proxmox VE 8.0. The 6.2 kernel is derived from Ubuntu 23.04.

Proxmox VE 8.1 (2023/Q4) will be based on the 6.5 kernel, derived from Ubuntu 23.10.

Proxmox VE 7.x

The old stable 7.x release uses currently the 5.15 LTS kernel since Proxmox VE 7.2. This kernel is derived from Ubuntu 22.04, as default.

The 6.2 based LTS kernel, derived from the (upcoming) Ubuntu 23.04 downstream repository, is provided as opt-in.

Proxmox VE 6.x

The EOL 6.x release uses latest Ubuntu 20.04 based kernel. The first stable 6.0 release is based on 5.0 Linux kernel (Ubuntu 19.10).

Since Proxmox VE 6.2 it is based on the 5.4 LTS Linux Kernel (using the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Kernel as a base).

Proxmox VE 5.x

The EOL 5.x release used latest Ubuntu 18.04 based kernel. The first stable 5.0 release is based on 4.13 Linux kernel (Ubuntu 17.10 Artful).

Since Proxmox VE 5.2 it is based on the 4.15 LTS Linux Kernel (using the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic Kernel as a base). The 4.13 received some updates after adoption of 4.15 as initially some hardware issues (NIC, SCSI) arose - those should be fixed by now, and we heavily suggest switching over to the 4.15 kernel by installing the pve-kernel-4.15 meta package - it includes, among other fixes, important security enhancements.

Proxmox VE 4.x

The EOL 4.x release used latest Ubuntu 16.04 based kernel. The first 4.0 release was based on 4.2 Linux kernel.

Since Proxmox VE 4.2 it is based on the 4.4 LTS Linux Kernel (using the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Kernel as a base).

Proxmox VE 3.x

The EOL Proxmox VE 3.x supported two kernel branches. Support for 3.x will end in April 2016.

A Proxmox VE cluster can manage a mixed kernel setup. Depending on the features, some migrations are only possible between identical kernels or identical KVM versions.

Kernel 3.10

Latest KVM
NO OpenVZ support
LXC supported
based on RHEL7x
Default Kernel for 4.x

Kernel 2.6.32

Latest KVM
Stable OpenVZ
based on RHEL6x now
Default Kernel for 3.x and lower