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Proxmox notes

New setup

  1. Install Proxmox VE from ISO - https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/proxmox-virtual-environment
  2. Run Proxmox VE Post Install helper script - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=post-pve-install
  3. Run Proxmox VE Processor Microcode script - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=microcode
  4. Run [node] > updates > refresh then upgrade
  5. Setup custom domain (see below)
  6. Setup 2FA for login
  7. [node] > Disks > ZFS > Create: ZFS to create a new ZFS pool. (If no disks showing as available then go up one level to Disks and wipe those that are not empty that should be or initialize new disks.) Resulting pool will be available in the root directory of the node (e.g., /mainpool). RAID level RAIDZ allows for one disk to fail (Z2 and Z3 allow 2 or 3 disks respectively). Compression should be left as on (defaults to lz4). Leave Add Storage checked - this will add the resulting pool to the main Datacenter.
  8. It is recommended that no files should be stored in the root of the new main ZFS pool. We need to create datasets within the pool - this is achieved by going to Datacenter > Storage > Add > ZFS (for Disk images and Containers) and Add > Directory (for other file types). The former is the equivalent of using the zfs create command (e.g., zfs create mainpool/vmdata) on the command line - they can also be created via that route but then Directories will also need created within Proxmox using the new dataset as a location. If it is a directory that is not going to be used within Proxmox then there is no need to add a directory.
  9. You can disable (under Datacenter > Storage) unused locations such as local and local-lvm if you don't use them and don't want them to show up in the options.

ZFS commands

zpool list to see ZFS pool information
zfs list to see ZFS mount information

Bindmount to local folder

Change ownership - 100000 + LXC UID https://www.itsembedded.com/sysadmin/proxmox_bind_unprivileged_lxc/ chown -R 10000:100000 /mainpool/media/

pct set 302 -mp0 /mainpool/media,mp=/media

Custom domain to have SSL certificate without warning

  1. Purchase domain
  2. Setup Cloudflare as DNS servers & wait for them to propagate
  3. Create an A record in Cloudflare DNS for the internal IP address
  4. In Proxmox go to Datacenter > ACME.
    • Click add account and select LetsEncrypt
    • Click add challenge plugin and select Cloudflare DNS
  5. In Cloudflare console go to Websites in the left-hand bar on the Cloudflare console & click on the website.
    • Down at the bottom right you'll find the Zone ID and Account ID - copy and paste these into CF_Zone_ID and CF_Account_ID
  6. In Cloudflare console go to Manage Account > Account API tokens > use Edit Zone DNS entry.
    • Select desired domain under Zone Resources
    • Click to Continue to summary then Create Token - copy and paste this into CF_Token on Proxmox
  7. Now on Proxmox change to the Node > System > Certificates and click Add under the ACME section
    • Change challenge type to DNS
    • Pick the Cloudflare ACME plugin created above
    • Enter the desired domain
    • Click create
    • Click order certificates now

Tailscale

See notes in Proxmox section.

Migrating VMs to Proxmox

If migrating a running system then CloneZilla if a good option. Just be sure for Windows machines to install the VirtIO drivers before starting to clone.

Another options is Disk2VHD by Microsoft and then use the Proxmox tool to conver the vhd to qcow2 after.

The official guidance is at https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrate_to_Proxmox_VE#Migration.

  1. Create a new VM of the correct type
  2. If the file is stored in one of the VMs (e.g., if sent over via Tailscale) then it back be pulled into the main Proxmox console with pct pull [VMID] [file location in VM] [local path] - e.g., pct pull 300 /root/Downloads/MS-DOS.vmdk MS-DOS.vmdk. Otherwise the easiest way to transfer it is just to use sftp or scp (including WinSCP) to directly send the file to the Proxmox host.
  3. For VMware files be sure to pull both the descriptor vmdk file (usually very small) and the actual virtual disk (much larger, sometimes has -flat in the name or -s001 etc.). Be sure to keep the filenames the same when moving them across as the descriptor file will look for that specific filename.
  4. After they are copied across, run qm disk import [target VMID] [vmdk descriptor name] [storage location] - e.g., qm disk import 103 MS-DOS.vmdk local-lvm.
  5. Once the import is done it will show up as unusedX disk in the hardware panel fo the VM
  6. Double-click on this (or select and click Edit) to then attach it to a bus - this will need to be IDE or SATA, but after migration and QEMU guest tools are installed this can be switched to VirtIO.
  7. If the disk image is the boot disk, enable it and choose the correct boot order in the Options → Boot Order panel of the VM.

Moving images, etc. to new disks

When a new ZFS pool is created by default there is a link to it in the root directory, e.g., /pool

ZFS natively only supports disk images and containers. A Directory can be created (Datacenter > Storage > Add > Directory) on the ZFS pool for storing other filetypes (VZDump backup files, Import, ISO images, Snippets, Containers).

To move ISOs, backups, container images to the new pool, go to the existing folders then do mv command to the matching locations - e.g.,

ISO Images

mv /var/lib/vz/template/iso /pool/template/iso

CT templates

mv /var/lib/vz/template/cache /pool/template/cache

Backups

mv /var/lib/vz/dump /pool/dump

For info VM disks these are generally stored in /dev/pve although it is best to move these using the GUI - Hardware > Hard Disk > Disk Action > Move Storage within the VM.

A full list is at https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Storage:_Directory

Moving files

pct push 302 plex.zip /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/

Entering container

pct enter 100

Plex

sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver

Unzip files from previous installation into: /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server Need to ensure that all are owned by plex sudo chown -R plex:plex /var/lib/plexmediaserver/

For shared folders need to ensure adequate permissions - normally 755 for directories and 644 for media files. find /mainpool/media -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;; find /mainpool/media -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Home Assistant

Sonoff Zigbee setup: - Stop HA VM in Proxmox - Node > VM > Hardware > Add > USB Device > Use USB Vendor/Device ID > pick the Sonoff dongle > Add - Start HA VM - Go to HA dashboard - Click on Ignore for the discovered Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus on the integrations page - Follow the Zigbee2MQTT installation instructions and add their repository to the add-on store. - Navigate away from then back to the Add-on Store and click on Zigbee2MQTT - Install & also ensure start on boot, watchdog, auto update and show in sidebar all ticked then click start - Navigate to the new Zigbee2MQTT menu option on the left and enable 'permit join' to start adding devices