Install Proxmox

1. Now lets get started with installing ProxMox. We are going to follow the instructions as outlined on this page https://computingforgeeks.com/how-to-install-proxmox-ve-on-debian/ rather than the” official” instructions, only because I was never able to get the official ones to work.

Execute the following command

sudo nano /etc/hosts

2. Modify the host entries make sure it looks something like the following

127.0.0.1 localhost

127.0.1.1 proxmox1.proxmox.local proxmox1

<STATIC IP> prox1.proxmox.local prox1

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts

::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback

ff02::1 ip6-allnodes

ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Note: the ip adress needs to be the static IP address you set for this machine when you installed Debian. also the hostname should be the same as that setup in the instalation of Debian, in this case as this is the first server, the ip address is 10.110.10.5 and the hostname is prox1.fitzsimmons.com.au

3. Now exicute the following to check the hostname

sudo nano /etc/hostname

this file is where the identity of the local machine is set. You should see either a single name of a FQDN (e.g. prox1.fitzsimmons.com.au) depending on how you setup the machine during the initial setup process. Just make sure that the name in the hostfile file is also included in the hosts file and is mapped to either localhost or the static ip, in this example the hostname is prox1.fitzsimmons.com.au or just prox1 and its mapped to the static IP addrtess

DONT SKIP THE NEXT STEP OR INSTALATION WILL FAIL AND YOU WILL NEED TO START FROM SCRATCH!!!

4. To confirm that the host is setup correctly run the following command

Ping <hostname> (eg prox1.fitzsimmons.com.au)

Ping <hostname> (eg prox1)

5. you should see the responce back as the IP address of the machine. if this dosnt work go back to the previus steps and double check. you caint go forward until this is working.

6. Ok so now we should be ready to install Proxmox. There are a couple of tutorials out there that show you how to do this on Debian, there is the official one https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_Buster and there is this one https://computingforgeeks.com/how-to-install-proxmox-ve-on-debian/ but as is often the case with Linux tutorials, the author assumes knowledge and doesn’t set that expectation so you will probably do what I did and spend days trying to work out why it doesn’t work.

But that’s why you’re here isn’t it! I make it easy (he says thinking wishfully) anyway here are the steps.

NOTE: First up, sometimes sudo doesn’t have all the rights you need to execute all the commands required, the result is you can get some less than obvious errors that can be missed.

To help avoid that I use the command su- which will shell me into the root user terminal and this gives you full rights to everything in the machine.

Because we are now the root user we don’t need to prefix any of our commands with sudo

7. First , its always good practice to make sure that the repositories are all up to date and cached so we can execute the following commands. Lets update the system by issuing the following

apt update && apt upgrade

reboot

8. Next we need to add the Proxmox VE repository to the sources list. As well as import the key. But before we can do that we need to install gnupg2

apt-get install gnupg2

9. Next import the GPG key by issueing the following command.

wget -qO - http://download.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg | sudo apt-key add

10. you should get the following responce if it worked corectly

OK

11. Now add the Proxmox VE repository

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve buster pve-no-subscription" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-install-repo.list

12. you should get the following responce if it worked corectly

deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve buster pve-no-subscription

13. now update the repo and pull down the Proxmox distribution

apt update && apt dist-upgrade

14. Add Proxmox VE Ceph Repository

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-nautilus buster main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list

14. you should get the following responce if it worked corectly

deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-nautilus buster main

15. last step! install proxmox VE packages

apt install proxmox-ve postfix open-iscsi

Notes:

  • During the installation, you will be prompted to setup WINS, just say no

  • Then you will be asked to configure for email, there are instructions on the page, but in most cases it will be “local only”

  • Next you will be asked for a FQDN. Set one if you have one, NOTE: a certificate will be created against what ever you set here.

15. Finally reboot system:

reboot

16. If all goes well, you should be able to login to the Proxmox web UI, browse too https://youripaddress:8006 you should see the login banner.

17. Login with either your root user credentials, the second user you setup wont work here.