Proxmox

📁 Project Context This documentation captures the setup process of an Ubuntu Server Virtual Machine hosted on Proxmox VE, intended for general-purpose use in my home lab. 💻 Hardware & Host Setup Host System: Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny Hypervisor: Proxmox VE Primary VMs already present: pfSense (handles LAN, DHCP, firewall) Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) ⚙️ VM Configuration Summary VM Host: Proxmox VE Machine Type: Q35 BIOS: UEFI (OVMF) with EFI disk on local-lvm, no pre-enrolled keys SCSI Controller: VirtIO SCSI single Disk Bus/Device: VirtIO Block Disk Cache: Write back I/O Thread: Enabled CPU: 1 socket, 4 cores (host type) Memory: 8192 MB RAM 🌐 Network Setup Bridge: vmbr1 (VM-only LAN, 10.0.1.0/24) Model: VirtIO IP assignment: Static via pfSense DHCP reservation Assigned IP: 10.0.1.10 Gateway/DNS: 10.0.1.1 (pfSense) 🔍 Installation Walkthrough Booted Ubuntu Server 24.04 ISO in VM Selected guided install → full disk usage (750 GB assigned) Created user: faisal, password set Enabled Ubuntu Pro Enabled OpenSSH server for remote access Skipped featured snaps Completed install → reboot Removed ISO from CD/DVD device in Proxmox Server booted successfully 🛁 Static IP Configuration via pfSense To ensure the Ubuntu Server VM always receives the same IP address, I created a DHCP static lease in pfSense: ...

I have a Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny that serves as my starter homelab machine. It’s compact but decently powered with: 2 NICs with 5 ports 1TB SSD 16GB DDR5 RAM I initially installed Proxmox VE (PVE) using ZFS as the file system by selecting RAID0, thinking its features like snapshots and data integrity would be beneficial. However, I soon realized it was a big mistake. ZFS is incredibly RAM-hungry, and with only 16GB of RAM, my homelab couldn’t handle many VMs and services running simultaneously. ...

Just like with Proxmox VE, I prefer a fresh installation and configuration of Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) for a clean and consistent setup. While I would back it up if possible, PBS requires that the machine be either stopped or suspended for backup, meaning it may not be able to back itself up. However, I’ve heard that one could have another instance of PBS to back up the first. Given this, documenting the entire process ensures reproducibility, security, and stability for each installation. ...

In this post, I will share my experience with optimizing ZFS on Proxmox, specifically how I reduced memory consumption caused by ZFS’s ARC (Adaptive Replacement Cache). ZFS is an advanced file system known for its data integrity and scalability, but its memory requirements can sometimes be too high, especially when running on machines with limited RAM. I’ll show you how to manage this effectively to prevent ZFS from consuming too much memory, allowing you to run virtual machines (VMs) like pfSense more efficiently. ...

This guide documents the step-by-step process I followed to set up pfSense in a virtualized environment using Proxmox, configure a TP-Link router as an access point, and extend the network with another TP-Link router in range extender mode. This document is intended for future reference or anyone attempting a similar setup. 1. Initial Proxmox Setup Hardware Configuration: Host Machine: Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-14600 vPro® Processor (E-cores up to 3.90 GHz, P-cores up to 5.20 GHz) NICs: Intel i219 (single port) used for management. Intel i350-T4 quad-port NIC passed through to pfSense VM. Proxmox Installation: Installed Proxmox VE and ensured all updates were applied. Configured the management interface (i219) on vmbr0. IP: 172.16.0.5/24 Gateway: 172.16.0.1 2. pfSense VM Creation on Proxmox Download the installer Netgate Installer - AMD64 ISO IPMI/Virtual Machines Extract with 7-Zip since it’s a .gz file. Upload to Proxmox local (pve). Step 1: Creating the VM VM Configuration: Machine Type: q35 BIOS: SeaBIOS SCSI Controller: VirtIO SCSI Single Qemu Agent: Enabled Disks: 32GB, VirtIO Block, local-lvm, discard, backup, IO thread disabled. CPU: 2 cores, host type. Memory: 2048MB (2GB). Since pfSense recommends ZFS, assigning more RAM than required can have a negative impact on your overall memory usage. This can always be adjusted later as needed. Network: No network device added during creation due to NIC passthrough. Step 2: Network Preparation Enabled IOMMU: ...

There is need to back up your Proxmox host. Always do a fresh install and fresh configuration using this documentation, as it provides a cleaner option for setup. It’s crucial to document everything for future reference, ensuring consistency and security with each installation. 1. Install Proxmox VE To begin, you’ll need to install Proxmox VE on your host. Proxmox is a powerful, open-source virtualization platform that allows you to manage virtual machines and containers. ...