Proxmox IP Notes

A lightweight, zero-config utility that automatically prepends the IP address of LXC containers and Virtual Machines to their "Notes" field in Proxmox upon startup.

Features

• Zero-Config Automation: Automatically detects when any container or VM starts and updates its notes. No need to manually add hookscripts to every machine.
• Duplicate Prevention: Smartly checks if the IP is already present to keep your notes clean and readable.
• Supports Static & DHCP: Works for machines with static IPs in their config and machines that grab an IP via DHCP.
• Handles Multi-Line Notes: Preserves your existing descriptions and simply adds the IP at the top.

How it Works

Unlike heavy polling scripts that scan all your machines every minute, this tool is Event-Driven.

1. The Watcher: A tiny systemd service monitors the Proxmox journal in real-time. It sits idle (0% CPU) until it sees a specific "Started" event.
2. The Trigger: When a machine starts (e.g., Started pve-container@100.service), the watcher wakes up and triggers the updater for only that specific ID.
3. The Update: It waits 10-30 seconds (to allow DHCP to assign an IP) and then writes the IP to the machine's config.

Installation

1. Download the files to your Proxmox host:

   git clone https://github.com/saihgupr/proxmox-ip-notes.git
   cd proxmox-ip-notes

2. Move scripts to the system path:

   cp ip-notes /usr/local/bin/
   cp proxmox-auto-ip-notes /usr/local/bin/
   chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ip-notes /usr/local/bin/proxmox-auto-ip-notes

3. Install the Service:

   cp proxmox-ip-notes.service /etc/systemd/system/
   systemctl daemon-reload
   systemctl enable --now proxmox-ip-notes

Manual Usage

You can also run the tool manually at any time to bulk-update every machine on your host:

ip-notes

Uninstallation

To completely remove the utility and its service, run this command as root from anywhere:

systemctl stop proxmox-ip-notes && systemctl disable proxmox-ip-notes && rm -f /etc/systemd/system/proxmox-ip-notes.service && systemctl daemon-reload && rm -f /usr/local/bin/ip-notes /usr/local/bin/proxmox-auto-ip-notes

This command stops the service, disables it, removes the service definition, reloads systemd, and deletes the script files from your system path.

Requirements

• Proxmox VE 7.x, 8.x, or 9.x
• QEMU Guest Agent (Required for VMs to report their IP)