I'm probably not going to use this. It's not automatic, and I have other tooling that'll do the work for me as far as documentation is concerned, and VMs come and go sometimes. Not to mention, there's a good chunk of data that I need already on proxmox dashboard, such as the VM name (Its name always defines its purpose), its IP (If it's not there, I install the agent). So I already have MOST of the information I need when I'm looking at ProxMox, which is really infrequent anyways. I also really dislike having large images in what should be a "notebook" field. I prefer simplicity over copyright infringement for using another companies content without their direct permission, so images are out of the question for me. (I know, you used images and HTML as an example -- the content can be anything) What would change my mind though is when you made mention in your three paragraphs in the "External Documentation Tool", which made me think of my source of truth, phpIPAM.... What caught my attention was the idea that a generic template could be made that's stored on github. Semaphore can easily do a pull or wget on the template, ask ProxMox for its relevant information, such as all the VMs on the cluster, run a port scan on the machine internally, document what is open, generate the report based on the template, then submit the generated notes to Proxmox for that specific VM it just scanned. I can convince Semaphore to run the job daily or on command and all those notes are immediately updated. As a bonus, if I DO have some special notes, if I add VM specific information I want into a text file (Based on either VM ID or the hostname, undecided which is better since either can change as time goes on, BUT, the fact that they exist is telling right there) I can throw that in a file, and that gets seeded into the template as well. So why don't I do all that? ... well.... First paragraph, really... I have most of the information i want built right into the dashboard. Anything else I'd want to talk to the server itself. I rarely ever populate notes in ProxMox since VMs can be destroyed and rebuilt and I also don't look at the interface except when I want to build or destroy a machine, or I need to do some kind of maintenance. I'm not in there for reading notes, I'm there to do work. Notes are done in IPAM based on what fields I find relevant to remember. With my (yet to do) project of getting another reverse proxy service going, I'll have the port information right there in ipam anyways.

My Dell servers already have IDRACs (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) of various versions. And I also have an 8-port VGA based KVM hooked to them. I'm rarely ever more than a 5 minute drive, or a 15 second walk away from my servers when I need to do something to them while standing in front of them, so I RARELY ever have to concern myself with the DRAC cards. That said, I've had to use them in a commercial sense for work. This is fantastic technology. I wish this was standard on every machine, but, then, it opens a HUGE hole for security. There are also individual and multi port network capable KVMs one can purchase as well that will do the same kind of thing. Separate device, you can remote to the KVM, have control of the PC that its hooked to (Or in the multi port version, change to whatever machine you need) and do whatever it is you need. For power management, though, you do have to open the case and hook into the front panel leads which depending on the machine could be interesting.

Retro stuffs. Planning another show for Sept 2026 with a couple of other guys. I'm bringing an AMD 486, Pentium 1 through 4, setting up for some good ol' URTGOTY99, Doom, and a few other networking games. Plus bringing my MiSTer. So home lab stuff, not a lot in plan, except maybe gearing towards the full OS backup with ProxMox Backup. {sigh} One of my servers locked up over the weekend, not sure why. Nothing on screen, I just had to power cycle.

I keep looking at PBS... I'm the fence if I just want to copy the data that's on the VMs (Doing that for Semaphore actively, configs are on Github, Semaphore can be rebuilt from scratch and have its data restored) over to the NAS or do I want to do full VM backups. In my case, I'm still working on getting the cattle going instead of having pets around. So with cattle, I just need to get the living data thrown to a backup point, and when one of the cattle dies or needs an OS upgrade (Which Debian is due to go EOL at the beginning of Q3), I can bring a VM up with the required config and Semaphore build, then restore the backup, and I'm back in the game. But then there's the whole "backup the VM" idea, which, to me, turns this back into a pet situation, not cattle. Because in that way you're treating the VM as it's own thing with its own quirks, and not a perfect restore from an IaC situation. That said, it's easier to restore the VM as a thing to itself from the last VM backup.... Of these two, one requires tending the herd (Configure the VM to do its own backups to the NAS for each type of cattle, or in other words, define what content in the VM needs to be backup specifically for that VMs job in life), or just backup the whole thing and let drift happen if it happens..... I guess a hybrid or use both processes could also be done. Indicate the critical machines (pfSense and Semaphore) to be done with PBS while everything else is done via Semaphore and internal backups..... #FirstWorldProblems

@Jose Pelaez NUCs for $50 even.... Swarm of Proxmox nodes inbound..... >:]

@Brandon Lee I don't need "hope", I know it's going to happen, bubble or not. We got through Covid, no one was making equipment, people stayed home and upped their rigs because the occasionally used system was now their primary rig, so demand went up while supply went down which made prices go insane. We got through earthquakes and flooding, which made manufacturing literally STOPPED. It's going to take time to "heal" from this stupidity, but it'll happen. But I'll be really straight up. I am so glad that I got my 5070 a year or so back, same with my new AM5 build (Previous life was my AI and game server setup). I was tempted to get an elcheapo GPU for another lesser-AI build, but decided to put money into retro equipment for the next couple months. I get more joy out of that and less gray hairs.