Proxmox Ceph Dashboard Integration: Add the Official Dashboard to PVE

Proxmox Ceph dashboard integration isn’t in the web UI by default. You have to enable the manager module and point it at your cluster. It’s not hard, but the docs skip a few steps that’ll bite you.

Install and enable the dashboard module

On each Ceph monitor node, install the dashboard manager module:

apt install ceph-mgr-dashboard

Then enable it. You only need to do this once, from any monitor:

ceph mgr module enable dashboard

Check it’s running:

ceph mgr services

You should see the dashboard URL, something like http://your-mon-ip:8080. If it’s not there, the manager isn’t active. Restart the mgr daemon:

systemctl restart ceph-mgr@$(hostname)

Set up TLS and credentials

The dashboard defaults to HTTP. Don’t use that. Create a self-signed cert or use your own:

ceph dashboard create-self-signed-cert

Set a password for the admin user:

ceph dashboard set-login-credentials admin yourpassword

Now the dashboard is on HTTPS at https://your-mon-ip:8443.

Expose it via nginx proxy manager

I don’t like opening monitor ports to the world. Put nginx proxy manager in front. Add a proxy host with the monitor IP and port 8443, enable SSL, and you’re done. If you already run nginx proxy manager for other services, this takes two minutes. If you don’t, check my post on LXC container configs for a similar setup.

Common pitfalls

The dashboard module sometimes fails to load after a Ceph upgrade. If you get a blank page, check the mgr log:

journalctl -u ceph-mgr@$(hostname) -f

Usually it’s a missing dependency or a stale Python package. Reinstall the module and restart the mgr. Also, the dashboard only shows data from the cluster it’s connected to. If you have multiple clusters, you need a separate dashboard per cluster.

That’s it. The official dashboard gives you a decent overview of OSDs, pools, and health. It’s not a replacement for the CLI, but it’s nice for a quick look.