Proxmox VE Installation

This guide covers two approaches to installing Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) from scratch, depending on your server's storage configuration.

Approach 1: Hardware RAID 10 with SSD Drives

This is the simpler approach where the entire Proxmox installation (OS + VM storage) runs on a single hardware RAID 10 array using 4 or 6 SSD drives.

Prerequisites

Dedicated server with a hardware RAID controller (e.g., Dell PERC, LSI MegaRAID, HP Smart Array)
4 or 6 x SSD drives (same model and capacity recommended)
Proxmox VE ISO (download from proxmox.com/en/downloads)
IPMI/iLO/iDRAC access for remote console and ISO mounting
Minimum 16 GB RAM (64 GB+ recommended for production)

Step 1: Configure Hardware RAID 10

Access the RAID controller BIOS during server boot (usually Ctrl+R for Dell PERC, or through the UEFI setup)
Delete any existing virtual disks / foreign configurations
Create a new Virtual Disk:
- RAID Level: RAID 10
- Drives: Select all 4 (or 6) SSD drives
- Strip Size: 256 KB (good for virtualization workloads)
- Read Policy: Read Ahead
- Write Policy: Write Back (if battery/capacitor backed) or Write Through
- Disk Cache: Disabled
Initialize the virtual disk (Fast Init is fine)
Confirm the virtual disk shows as Optimal status
Save and exit the RAID configuration

Step 2: Boot from Proxmox VE ISO

Mount the Proxmox VE ISO via IPMI virtual media (or USB)
Set the boot order to boot from the virtual CD/USB drive
Reboot the server and select "Install Proxmox VE (Graphical)"
Accept the EULA

Step 3: Select Target Disk

The installer will show your RAID 10 virtual disk as a single drive (e.g., /dev/sda)
Select this disk as the installation target
Click Options to configure the disk layout:
- Filesystem: ext4 (recommended for RAID controllers) or ZFS (RAID 10) if you want ZFS features on top
- hdsize: Use full disk or set a specific size
- swapsize: 8 GB (or match RAM if hibernation is needed)
- maxroot: 100 GB (for the OS root partition)
- minfree: 16 GB
- maxvz: Remaining space (this becomes local-lvm for VM storage)
Click OK and proceed

Step 4: Network and Password Configuration

Country/Timezone: Set appropriately (e.g., Canada, America/Toronto)
Password: Set a strong root password
Email: Enter admin notification email address
Management Interface: Select the primary NIC
Hostname: Set FQDN (e.g., pve1.4goodhosting.com)
IP Address: Set the server's static IP
Netmask: Usually 255.255.255.0 (/24)
Gateway: Set the default gateway
DNS Server: Set DNS (e.g., 8.8.8.8 or your internal DNS)

Step 5: Complete Installation

Review the summary and click Install
Wait for installation to complete (usually 5-10 minutes on SSDs)
Remove the ISO/USB media
Reboot the server

Step 6: Post-Installation Setup

6.1 Access the Web Interface

Open a browser and go to: https://<server-ip>:8006

6.2 Remove Enterprise Repository (if no subscription)

# Disable enterprise repo
sed -i 's/^deb/# deb/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

# Add no-subscription repo
echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list

# Update packages
apt update && apt full-upgrade -y

6.3 Remove Subscription Nag (optional)

sed -Ezi.bak "s/(Ext\.Msg\.show\(\{.*?title: gettext\('No valid sub)/void({ \/\/\1/g" /usr/share/javascript/proxmox-widget-toolkit/proxmoxlib.js
systemctl restart pveproxy.service

6.4 Configure Storage

Verify your storage is set up correctly:

# Check logical volumes
lvs

# You should see:
#   root   pve  (OS root partition)
#   swap   pve  (swap)
#   data   pve  (VM storage - local-lvm)

In the web UI, go to Datacenter > Storage and verify:

local - Directory storage for ISOs, backups, templates
local-lvm - LVM-Thin storage for VM disks and containers

6.5 Upload ISO Images

Go to local > ISO Images > Upload and upload your OS ISOs (e.g., Ubuntu Server, Windows Server, etc.)

6.6 Configure Networking

# View current network config
cat /etc/network/interfaces

# The default bridge vmbr0 should already be configured
# To add additional bridges for VLANs:
auto vmbr1
iface vmbr1 inet manual
    bridge-ports none
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
    bridge-vlan-aware yes

6.7 Enable Firewall (recommended)

In the web UI: Datacenter > Firewall > Options - Enable the firewall and configure rules to allow:

Port 8006 (Proxmox web UI)
Port 22 (SSH)
Port 3128 (Spice proxy, if needed)
Port 5900-5999 (VNC console)

6.8 Set Up Email Notifications

apt install -y libsasl2-modules

# Configure postfix for relay (e.g., via Gmail or SMTP relay)
cat >> /etc/postfix/main.cf <<EOF
relayhost = [smtp.gmail.com]:587
smtp_use_tls = yes
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_tls_CAfile = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
EOF

# Add credentials
echo "[smtp.gmail.com]:587 user@gmail.com:app-password" > /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
chmod 600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
postmap /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
systemctl restart postfix

Approach 2: NVMe Software RAID 1 (OS) + Hardware RAID 10 (VM Storage)

This approach separates the OS and VM storage onto different disk arrays for better performance and reliability. The OS runs on a fast NVMe software RAID 1 mirror, while VMs are stored on a hardware RAID 10 array of SSDs.

Prerequisites

Dedicated server with a hardware RAID controller
2 x NVMe drives (for OS - software RAID 1 mirror)
4 or 6 x SSD drives (for VM storage - hardware RAID 10)
Proxmox VE ISO
IPMI/iLO/iDRAC access

Step 1: Configure Hardware RAID 10 for SSDs

Access the RAID controller BIOS during boot
Create a RAID 10 virtual disk using the 4 or 6 SSD drives (same settings as Approach 1)
Important: The NVMe drives are NOT connected to the RAID controller - they connect directly to the motherboard via M.2 or U.2 slots, so they will not appear in the RAID configuration
Save and exit

Step 2: Install Proxmox VE on NVMe (ZFS Mirror)

Boot from the Proxmox VE ISO
Select "Install Proxmox VE (Graphical)"
Accept the EULA
At the disk selection screen, click Options:
- Filesystem: ZFS (RAID1)
- Harddisk 0: Select first NVMe drive (e.g., /dev/nvme0n1)
- Harddisk 1: Select second NVMe drive (e.g., /dev/nvme1n1)
- ashift: 12 (for most NVMe drives with 4K sectors)
- compress: lz4
- checksum: on
- hdsize: Use the full NVMe capacity or set a limit
Complete the network and password configuration (same as Approach 1, Steps 4-5)
Install and reboot

Step 3: Verify ZFS Mirror Status

# Check ZFS pool status
zpool status rpool

# Expected output:
#   pool: rpool
#   state: ONLINE
#   config:
#     NAME                                    STATE
#     rpool                                   ONLINE
#       mirror-0                              ONLINE
#         /dev/disk/by-id/nvme-DRIVE1-part3   ONLINE
#         /dev/disk/by-id/nvme-DRIVE2-part3   ONLINE

# Check ZFS datasets
zfs list

Step 4: Configure Hardware RAID 10 Array as VM Storage

4.1 Identify the RAID Virtual Disk

# List all block devices
lsblk

# The hardware RAID 10 array will show as a single device, e.g., /dev/sda
# The NVMe drives will show as /dev/nvme0n1 and /dev/nvme1n1

# Confirm the RAID disk
smartctl -a /dev/sda | head -20

4.2 Option A: Add as LVM Storage (Recommended)

# Create a physical volume on the RAID array
pvcreate /dev/sda

# Create a volume group
vgcreate vmdata /dev/sda

# Create a thin pool (use 95% of space, leave some for metadata)
TOTAL_SIZE=$(vgs vmdata --noheadings -o vg_size --nosuffix --units g | tr -d ' ' | cut -d. -f1)
POOL_SIZE=$(echo "$TOTAL_SIZE * 95 / 100" | bc)
lvcreate -L ${POOL_SIZE}g -T vmdata/vm-pool

# Verify
lvs

Add to Proxmox via web UI:

Go to Datacenter > Storage > Add > LVM-Thin
ID: ssd-storage
Volume Group: vmdata
Thin Pool: vm-pool
Content: Disk Image, Container
Click Add

4.2 Option B: Add as ZFS Storage

If you prefer ZFS features on top of the hardware RAID (note: this adds some overhead but gives you snapshots, compression, etc.):

# Create a ZFS pool on the RAID virtual disk
zpool create -f -o ashift=12 vmpool /dev/sda

# Enable compression
zfs set compression=lz4 vmpool

# Disable atime for better performance
zfs set atime=off vmpool

# Add to Proxmox via web UI:
# Datacenter > Storage > Add > ZFS
# ID: ssd-storage
# ZFS Pool: vmpool
# Content: Disk Image, Container

Step 5: Post-Installation Setup

Follow the same post-installation steps as Approach 1 (Steps 6.1 through 6.8).

Step 6: Verify Final Storage Layout

# Check all storage
pvesm status

# Expected output:
# Name          Type     Status  Total       Used      Available  %
# local         dir      active  XXXXX       XXXXX     XXXXX      X%
# local-zfs     zfspool  active  XXXXX       XXXXX     XXXXX      X%
# ssd-storage   lvmthin  active  XXXXX       XXXXX     XXXXX      X%

Your Proxmox node should now have:

local - Directory on NVMe (for ISOs, backups, templates)
local-zfs - ZFS on NVMe mirror (for small/critical VMs)
ssd-storage - LVM-Thin or ZFS on RAID 10 SSDs (primary VM storage)

Common Post-Install Tasks (Both Approaches)

Create Your First VM

Upload an ISO to local > ISO Images
Click Create VM in the top right
Configure: Name, ISO, OS type, disk (select appropriate storage), CPU, Memory, Network
Start the VM and open the console to complete OS installation

Create a Container (LXC)

Download a template: local > CT Templates > Templates
Click Create CT in the top right
Configure: Hostname, password, template, storage, CPU, memory, network
Start the container

Set Up Backups

Go to Datacenter > Backup
Click Add to create a backup job
Set schedule (e.g., daily at 2:00 AM)
Select VMs/containers to back up
Choose storage destination and compression (zstd recommended)
Set retention policy (e.g., keep last 7 daily backups)

Monitoring

# Check cluster/node status
pvesh get /nodes/$(hostname)/status

# Check storage health
zpool status     # if using ZFS
pvesm status     # all storage overview

# Check RAID status (hardware)
# Dell: omreport storage vdisk
# HP: ssacli ctrl slot=0 show config