[TUTORIAL] QuantaStor Proxmox Storage Plugin v1.1.2: native PVE storage for VMs and containers

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cagamps

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Dec 16, 2025
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OSNEXUS has released v1.1.2 of the QuantaStor storage plugin for Proxmox VE. It adds QuantaStor appliances as a native PVE storage type for VM disks and LXC containers over iSCSI.

It installs as a standard Debian package and registers through Proxmox's custom storage plugin interface as storage type quantastor. No Proxmox storage code is patched.

(This replaces our earlier patch-based pre-release, which is archived. Thanks to @t.lamprecht and @bbgeek17 for pointing us at the proper plugin interface back in January.)

What changed from the pre-release

The pre-release was an install script that patched Proxmox's own storage modules and rode on the built-in ZFS over iSCSI type (zfs with iscsiprovider quantastor). The current plugin is a first-class storage type instead:

  • Proxmox updates no longer break it. A pve-storage upgrade used to overwrite the patched files and silently leave the storage with no working provider. Now no Proxmox storage code is patched. The only change outside the package is a script tag that adds the QuantaStor panel to the web UI, and dpkg triggers put it back after pve-manager upgrades.
  • It installs and removes like any package. apt install, upgrade and remove, with dependencies declared. No patch tool, no reverse-patch step, no file backups to restore.
  • It is no longer limited to what ZFS over iSCSI allows. As its own storage type, the plugin provides containers (rootdir), backups of running containers, clones from snapshots, multipath, and its own panel in the Add Storage dialog. ZFS over iSCSI is VM-disks only.

A storage entry left over from the pre-release has no working provider once its patches are gone. Replace it with a quantastor storage for the same pool; the volumes on the appliance are untouched. The README has the steps ("Upgrading from the patch-based alpha").

Install

Run on every node in the cluster:

Code: 
apt install ./pve-storage-quantastor_1.1.2-1_all.deb

Use apt rather than dpkg -i so the dependencies (open-iscsi, multipath-tools) come along. PVE services restart automatically, and dpkg triggers re-apply the UI panel and pool-scan endpoint after future pve-manager / pve-storage upgrades. Upgrading from any earlier release is the same command, with no config changes.

Configure

Add the storage from any node:

Code: 
pvesm add quantastor qs-storage-1 \
  --api_host 10.0.0.10 \
  --username admin \
  --password '<password>' \
  --pool_id <pool-name-or-uuid> \
  --content images,rootdir

--pool_id is the QuantaStor storage pool to create volumes in, by name or UUID (qs pool-list on the appliance shows both). Add --multipath 1 to use every portal the appliance advertises. The web UI works too: Datacenter → Storage → Add → QuantaStor.

What works

  • VM disks — create, snapshot, rollback, online resize, linked and full clones (including full clones from a snapshot), templates, live and offline migration, destroy.
  • LXC containers — rootdir on block volumes, the same model as PVE's RBD and LVM-thin. Filesystem-consistent snapshots of running containers, extra mount points, pct fstrim, unprivileged containers.
  • Backups — vzdump and scheduled backup jobs in snapshot, suspend and stop mode, to local storage or Proxmox Backup Server, and restore onto QuantaStor storage.
  • Multipath — set multipath 1 and each volume is logged in on every portal the appliance advertises, with guests on the DM-MPIO device. The package ships the device section, so no node setup is needed.
  • QuantaStor HA storage pools — point the storage at the failover group's floating virtual interface and guests keep running across a controller failover. Measured on a two-node HA pair: I/O pauses for roughly 25-45 seconds and then resumes, with 0 guest I/O errors.
  • Proxmox HA fencing with mounted container filesystems — validated under Proxmox's default watchdog fencing.
  • Thin provisioned by default — the opposite of PVE's built-in ZFS plugins. Set sparse 0 to reserve space up front.
  • Web UI — storage-ID auto-fill and a pool scan button that lists the appliance's active pools.

Every release is checked against a compatibility matrix on a QuantaStor 6.9 HA pair and a two-node PVE 9.2 cluster: the VM and container lifecycle, migration, HA failover and controller reboot, multipath with a path taken down, and upgrades from every earlier release.

Requirements

  • PVE 9.1.x and 9.2.x — supported. On 9.2 you'll see a cosmetic "implementing an older storage API" notice; the plugin declares api()=13 so one package covers both. It's a warning, not an error.
  • PVE 8.4 — not supported. Its APIVER is 11, which blocks the plugin, so the storage type won't appear.
  • QuantaStor 6.9 — recommended. It includes the appliance-side fixes for the template-conversion volume wedge and the fresh-snapshot delete window.

Links

Release (.deb + SHA256): https://github.com/OSNEXUS/pve-quantastor-plugin/releases/tag/v1.1.2
Repo and README: https://github.com/OSNEXUS/pve-quantastor-plugin
Documentation: https://wiki.osnexus.com/index.php?title=Proxmox_Storage_Plugin

Feedback and bug reports welcome, here or as a GitHub issue.
 
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