proxmox-ve Installation Guide Installation Guide

proxmox-ve is a free and open-source virtualization platform. Proxmox VE combines KVM and LXC for enterprise virtualization

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 4+ cores

RAM: 8GB minimum

Storage: 32GB for VMs

Network: Cluster networking

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 8006 (default proxmox-ve port)

Various cluster ports

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install proxmox-ve
sudo dnf install -y proxmox-ve

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now proxmox-ve

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8006/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install proxmox-ve
sudo apt install -y proxmox-ve

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now proxmox-ve

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 8006

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Install proxmox-ve
sudo pacman -S proxmox-ve

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now proxmox-ve

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Install proxmox-ve
apk add --no-cache proxmox-ve

# Enable and start service
rc-update add proxmox-ve default
rc-service proxmox-ve start

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Install proxmox-ve
sudo zypper install -y proxmox-ve

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now proxmox-ve

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8006/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install proxmox-ve

# Start service
brew services start proxmox-ve

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install proxmox-ve

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'proxmox-ve_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service proxmox-ve start

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install proxmox-ve

# Or using Scoop
scoop install proxmox-ve

# Verify installation
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/proxmox-ve

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
proxmox-ve --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable proxmox-ve

# Start service
sudo systemctl start proxmox-ve

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop proxmox-ve

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart proxmox-ve

# Check status
sudo systemctl status proxmox-ve

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u proxmox-ve -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add proxmox-ve default

# Start service
rc-service proxmox-ve start

# Stop service
rc-service proxmox-ve stop

# Restart service
rc-service proxmox-ve restart

# Check status
rc-service proxmox-ve status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'proxmox-ve_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service proxmox-ve start

# Stop service
service proxmox-ve stop

# Restart service
service proxmox-ve restart

# Check status
service proxmox-ve status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start proxmox-ve
brew services stop proxmox-ve
brew services restart proxmox-ve

# Check status
brew services list | grep proxmox-ve

powershell

# Start service
net start proxmox-ve

# Stop service
net stop proxmox-ve

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service proxmox-ve
Stop-Service proxmox-ve
Restart-Service proxmox-ve

# Check status
Get-Service proxmox-ve

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream proxmox-ve_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:8006;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name proxmox-ve.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name proxmox-ve.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/proxmox-ve.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/proxmox-ve.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://proxmox-ve_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName proxmox-ve.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://proxmox-ve.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName proxmox-ve.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/proxmox-ve.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/proxmox-ve.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8006/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8006/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend proxmox-ve_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/proxmox-ve.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend proxmox-ve_backend

backend proxmox-ve_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server proxmox-ve1 127.0.0.1:8006 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R proxmox-ve:proxmox-ve /etc/proxmox-ve
sudo chmod 750 /etc/proxmox-ve

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8006/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status proxmox-ve

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u proxmox-ve -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep proxmox-ve)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/proxmox-ve"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/proxmox-ve-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/proxmox-ve /var/lib/proxmox-ve

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/proxmox-ve-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop proxmox-ve

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/proxmox-ve/proxmox-ve-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start proxmox-ve

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u proxmox-ve -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/proxmox-ve/proxmox-ve.log

# Check configuration
proxmox-ve --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/proxmox-ve

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 8006

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 8006

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep proxmox-ve)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep proxmox-ve)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 8006

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  proxmox-ve:
    image: proxmox-ve:latest
    ports:
      - "8006:8006"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/proxmox-ve
      - ./data:/var/lib/proxmox-ve
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update proxmox-ve

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade proxmox-ve

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu proxmox-ve

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade proxmox-ve

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update proxmox-ve

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade proxmox-ve

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/proxmox-ve-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/proxmox-ve

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart proxmox-ve

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/proxmox-ve

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/proxmox-ve -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/proxmox-ve

Official Documentation: https://docs.proxmox-ve.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/proxmox-ve/proxmox-ve

Community Forum: https://forum.proxmox-ve.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.proxmox-ve.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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