Proxmox Essentials: Building a Robust Virtualization Environment

Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) is an open-source platform that combines two virtualization technologies: KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) for virtual machines and LXC (Linux Containers) for lightweight container-based virtualization. This powerful solution allows users to manage virtual machines, containers, storage, and networking through a web-based interface.

Installation

Check the Get Started Guide on How To Install Proxmox VE

During the installation, you can configure network settings. If you prefer to use DHCP initially, leave the settings as is. For those who want to set a static IP later, proceed with DHCP for now.

• Setting Static IP Post-Installation:

  You can also separate bridge networking to use custom IP rage for your VMs and LXCs see post.

  After completing the Proxmox installation, you can set a static IP by modifying the network configuration file or in DHCP setting of your router. Connect to the Proxmox host using SSH or directly through the console, and edit the network configuration file:

  nano /etc/network/interfaces
  

  Locate the line containing iface vmbr0 (or your relevant interface) and change it to:

  auto lo
  iface lo inet loopback
  
  iface eno1 inet manual
  
  auto vmbr0
  iface vmbr0 inet static
          address 192.168.1.10/24
          gateway 192.168.1.254
          bridge-ports eno1
          bridge-stp off
          bridge-fd 0
  
  iface enx98e74303cde3 inet manual
  
  iface wlp0s20f3 inet manual
  

  Save the file and restart the networking service:

  service networking restart
  

First Setup

Disable Commercial Repositories

Add No-Subscription repository:

echo 'deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list

Disable the enterprise repo:

sed -i 's/^deb/#deb/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

Disable the ceph repo:

sed -i 's/^deb/#deb/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list

To install the newest updates run:

apt update && apt dist-upgrade -y

reboot

Remove Subscription Alert

sed -i.backup -z "s/res === null || res === undefined || \!res || res\n\t\t\t.data.status.toLowerCase() \!== 'active'/false/g" /usr/share/javascript/proxmox-widget-toolkit/proxmoxlib.js && systemctl restart pveproxy.service

Cloud-Init Image Template

Choose your Ubuntu Cloud Image

• Download Ubuntu (replace with the url of the one you chose from above)

  wget https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/jammy/current/jammy-server-cloudimg-amd64.img
  

• Create a new virtual machine

  qm create 8000 --memory 4096 --core 4 --name ubuntu-cloud --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0
  

• Import the downloaded Ubuntu disk to local-lvm storage

  qm importdisk 8000 jammy-server-cloudimg-amd64.img local-lvm
  

• Attach the new disk to the vm as a scsi drive on the scsi controller

  qm set 8000 --scsihw virtio-scsi-pci --scsi0 local-lvm:vm-8000-disk-0
  

• Add cloud init drive

  qm set 8000 --ide2 local-lvm:cloudinit
  

• Make the cloud init drive bootable and restrict BIOS to boot from disk only

  qm set 8000 --boot c --bootdisk scsi0
  

• Add serial console

  qm set 8000 --serial0 socket --vga serial0
  

• DO NOT START YOUR VM

  Now, configure hardware and cloud init, then create a template and clone. If you want to expand your hard drive you can on this base image before creating a template or after you clone a new machine. I prefer to expand the hard drive after I clone a new machine based on need.

• Create template

  qm template 8000
  

• Clone template

  qm clone 8000 101 --name homelab --full
  

To use cloud-init, click on the new VM you made, go to Cloud-Init tab and customize your settings and click on Regenerate Image and that’s it! Start your new cloned VM and after waiting for the boot sequence to finish you should get directly to a login prompt. Enjoy!

• Resize Proxmox VM

  qm shutdown 101
  qm set 101 --memory 8192 --core 4
  qm resize 101 scsi0 +80G
  

Attach Pass Through Disk

Identify Disk

When attaching pass-through disks in Proxmox, it’s crucial to use stable device paths like /dev/disk/by-id/ instead of generic names like /dev/sdc, as the latter can change between reboots. Follow these steps to identify the disk:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/ | grep sda

The output should resemble something similar to the following, where you match the serial number with the physical disk:

Update Configuration

Hot-Plug/Add physical device as new virtual SCSI disk

qm set 115 -scsi1 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD40EFAX-68JH4N1_WD-WX12D80NJSVS

Hot-Unplug/Remove virtual disk

qm unlink 115 --idlist scsi1

Add Additional Hard Drive to Proxmox

To add an additional hard drive to your Proxmox server, follow these steps:

1. Connect the Hard Drive:

   • Physically connect the hard drive to your server.

   • Log in to the Proxmox console or connect via SSH from another computer.

2. Identify the New Disk:

   • Use the following command to identify the new disk:

     lsblk
     

   • Look for the disk names like sda and sdb. Work with the drive that has a higher size.

3. Format the Drive:

   • Ensure you have the parted tool installed. If not, install it using:

     apt policy parted
     apt install parted
     

   • Create a new partition table of type GPT:

     parted /dev/sda mklabel gpt
     

     Confirm the action when prompted.

   • Create a new primary partition with Ext4 filesystem using 100% of the disk:

     parted -a opt /dev/sda mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%
     

   • Check the new layout with:

     lsblk
     

4. Create Ext4 Filesystem:

   • Create an Ext4 filesystem on the newly created partition (sda1 in this case):

     mkfs.ext4 -L hdd_storage /dev/sda1
     

5. Mount the New Disk:

   • Create a new directory to mount the partition:

     mkdir -p /mnt/hdd_storage
     

   • Modify /etc/fstab to automatically mount the partition upon system boots:

     nano /etc/fstab
     

     Add the following line:

     LABEL=hdd_storage /mnt/hdd_storage ext4 defaults 0 2
     

   • Mount the drive:

     mount -a
     

   • Confirm the mount by checking with:

     lsblk
     

     The /dev/sda1 should be mounted as /mnt/hdd_storage.