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Installing {pve}

{pve} ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can simply install it on top of a normal Debian installation. After configuring the repositories, you need to run:

apt-get update
apt-get install proxmox-ve

While this looks easy, it presumes that you have correctly installed the base system, and you know how you want to configure and use the local storage. Network configuration is also completely up to you.

In general, this is not trivial, especially when you use LVM or ZFS. This is why we provide an installation CD-ROM for {pve}. That installer just ask you a few questions, then partitions the local disk(s), installs all required packages, and configures the system including a basic network setup. You can get a fully functional system within a few minutes, including the following:

  • Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)

  • Partition the hard drive with ext4 (alternative ext3 or xfs) or ZFS

  • {pve} Kernel with LXC and KVM support

  • Complete toolset

  • Web based management interface

Note
 By default, the complete server is used and all existing data is removed.

Using the {pve} Installation CD-ROM

Please insert the installation CD-ROM, then boot from that drive. Immediately afterwards you can choose the following menu options:

Install Proxmox VE

Start normal installation.

Install Proxmox VE (Debug mode)

Start installation in debug mode. It opens a shell console at several installation steps, so that you can debug things if something goes wrong. Please press CTRL-D to exit those debug consoles and continue installation. This option is mostly for developers and not meant for general use.

Rescue Boot

This option allows you to boot an existing installation. It searches all attached hard disks, and if it finds an existing installation, boots directly into that disk using the existing Linux kernel. This can be useful if there are problems with the boot block (grub), or the BIOS is unable to read the boot block from the disk.

Test Memory

Runs 'memtest86+'. This is useful to check if your memory if functional and error free.

You normally select Install Proxmox VE to start the installation. After that you get prompted to select the target hard disk(s). The Options button aside lets you select the target file system, and defaults to ext4. The installer uses LVM if you select 'ext3', 'ext4' or 'xfs' as file system, and offers additional option to restrict LVM space (see below)

If you have more than one disk, you can also use ZFS as file system. ZFS supports several software RAID levels, so this is specially useful if you do not have a hardware RAID controller. The Options button lets you select the ZFS RAID level, and you can choose disks there.

The next pages just asks for basic configuration options like time zone and keyboard layout. You also need to specify your email address and select a superuser password.

The last step is the network configuration. Please note that you can use either IPv4 or IPv6 here, but not both. If you want to configure a dual stack node, you can easily do that after installation.

If you press Next now, installation starts to format disks, and copies packages to the target. Please wait until that is finished, then reboot the server.

Further configuration is done via the Proxmox web interface. Just point your browser to the IP address given during installation (https://youripaddress:8006). {pve} is tested for IE9, Firefox 10 and higher, and Google Chrome.

Advanced LVM configuration options

The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called pve, and additional Logical Volumes (LVs) called root, data and swap. The size of those volumes can be controlled with:

hdsize

Defines the total HD size to be used. This way you can save free space on the HD for further partitioning (i.e. for an additional PV and VG on the same hard disk that can be used for LVM storage).

swapsize

To define the size of the swap volume. Default is the same size as installed RAM, with 4GB minimum and hdsize/8 as maximum.

maxroot

The root volume size. The root volume stores the whole operation system.

maxvz

Define the size of the data volume, which is mounted at '/var/lib/vz'.

minfree

To define the amount of free space left in LVM volume group pve. 16GB is the default if storage available > 128GB, hdsize/8 otherwise.

Note
 LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not required for lvmthin snapshots).

ZFS Performance Tips

ZFS uses a lot of memory, so it is best to add additional 8-16GB RAM if you want to use ZFS.

ZFS also provides the feature to use a fast SSD drive as write cache. The write cache is called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL). You can add that after installation using the following command:

zpool add <pool-name> log </dev/path_to_fast_ssd>