Prerequisites
A physical or dedicated server.
64-bit CPU.
At least 2GB of RAM (and additional RAM needed for guests).
At least 128GB of Hard Disk or SSD.
A USB stick with at least 1GB.
⏱️ Time required to complete this tutorial: half an hour to an hour ⭐ This tutorial requires minimal skills as you can easily follow the provided steps
Install Proxmox Virtual Environment
Follow the steps listed below to install Proxmox VE on a physical or dedicated server.
Download Proxmox ISO Image
The first step is to download the Proxmox VE ISO image.
Navigate to the official Proxmox Downloads page and select Proxmox Virtual Environment.
This takes you to the Proxmox Virtual Environment Archive which stores ISO images and official documentation.
Select ISO Images to continue.
At the time of writing, the latest version of the Proxmox VE ISO Installer is 7.4-1. If a newer version is available, it is listed at the top.
Click Download and save the file.
Prepare Installation Medium
To install Proxmox, you can either copy the ISO image onto a CD/DVD or a USB flash drive. However, since many systems do not have an optical drive, it is recommended to use a USB drive.
You can copy the ISO image to the USB stick either by using the command line or a USB formatting utility like Etcher or Rufus.
📝 Note
Make sure your USB has at least 1 GB of storage. Also, back up and remove any data on the device as the process will erase any previously stored data.
For Linux users, the quickest way to create a bootable USB is to run the command:
dd bs=1M conv=fdatasync if=./proxmox-ve_*.iso of=/device/name
Make sure to modify the file name and path in if=./proxmox-ve_*.iso, and provide the correct USB device name in of=/device/name.
Before and after plugging in the device, use the command lsblk to find the name of your USB stick. The additional entry in the second output will be the name of your USB device.
Launch the Proxmox Installer
Go to the server or machine where you wish to install Proxmox and connect the USB device.
While the server is booting up, access the boot menu by pressing the required keyboard key(s). Most commonly, they are either Esc, F2, F10, F11, or F12.
Select the installation medium with the Proxmox ISO image and boot from it.
Next, the Proxmox VE menu appears.
Select Install Proxmox VE to start the standard installation.
Read and accept the EULA to continue.
Choose the target hard disk where you want to install Proxmox. Click Options to specify additional parameters, such as the filesystem.
By default, it is set to ext4. Change this according to your needs.
Here you can choose a limit for the size of the
/rootpartition, this can be useful if the size of the target disk is not large else you can let it empty.
Then you can set the location, time zone, and keyboard layout. However, the installer will often detect these configurations automatically.
Create a strong password for your admin credentials, confirm it by retyping it, and provide an email address for system administrator notifications.
The final step is setting up the network configuration. This includes choosing the management interface and a FQDN hostname. You can choose to use DHCP or configure the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS for a static IP address.
⚠️ Warning
If you want to use DHCP, set a DHCP lease for Proxmox so that the IP address never changes.
The installer summarizes the selected options. After confirming everything is in order, press Install.
When the installation begins count about 10min to 20min before it is finished
After the installation is complete, the system will restart automatically, and you can remove the USB drive.
Next, when the system has booted the Proxmox VE welcome message appears. It includes an IP address that loads Proxmox.
When you're here, it's done! Proxmox VE is installed. ✅
Proxmox Web Interface
Now that you have installed your Proxmox server, you can access its web interface from a browser using its IP address:
https://<proxmox-ip-address>:8006
After navigating to the required IP address, you will most likely see a warning message that the page is unsafe because Proxmox VE uses self-signed SSL certificates. Select to proceed to the Proxmox web management interface.
Authenticate on the Proxmox web interface using the "root" account and the password defined during the installation process
This interface makes it easy to manage your virtual servers and containers. It offers a multitude of features to create, configure, and monitor your virtual machines, storage, and networks. It allows you to perform the vast majority of common actions. Unfortunately, some operations can only be done via the command line, but the documentation is very complete, making the work easier.
🔥 Tips
Don't be intimidated when seeing this interface, which may seem very dense at first glance. It takes some time to get used to it, but it is great once you get the hang of it.
Creating your first virtual machine
Now that you've installed Proxmox and logged on to the web console, you can create a virtual machine.
Uploading ISO to Proxmox
To install operating systems on our various virtual machines, we first need to download the system images (ISOs) and import them into Proxmox.
Select your node, then the storage (local, in our case).
Click on "ISO Images", then on the "Upload" button and browse your local disk for the image you wish to import.
You can repeat this operation as many times as you need, depending on the quantity of ISO images to be loaded, the only limit is the storage space available.
Creating virtual machine
To create a new virtual machine, click on the "Create VM" button at the top right of the interface.
After that, a popup appears and you can choose a name and a VMID (a unique number that identifies the VM).
You can also choose a specific Node if you have multiple Proxmox nodes in a cluster.
Next, switch to the OS tab and select the ISO image you want for your VM. Define the Type of the OS and kernel Version.
Modify system options (such as the Graphic card and SCSI controller) or leave the default settings.
The next step consists in configuring the virtual machine's storage, with the choice of hard disk, its type and its size.
📝 Note
If the physical server is using an SSD, enable the Discard option to preserve the lifetime of the SSD.
After that, it's a matter of defining the CPU specifications, with the option of modifying the vCPUs (virtual processors).
In the next step, we define the amount of RAM allocated to this VM.
📝 Note
It is possible to allocate a maximum and minimum quantity of RAM, to limit resource monopolization according to the machine's machine usage.
The Network part is fairly simple, and in most cases, the default option will be enough.
We're now at the final stage, where we're given a summary. If you're happy with this, click "Finish" to create the virtual machine.
⚠️ Warning
This will not install the operating system in the VM, but the machine will be ready for installation.
Great job! 🎉 The virtual machine has been successfully created and can now be found in our node (left-hand side of the interface).
Conclusion
You now have a Proxmox hypervisor that lets you create not only virtual machines but also containers!
To finalize the installation and have something ready for production, there are still a few steps to complete and a few options to modify. Perhaps I'll do a supplementary guide for that.
Feel free to send me feedback if you have any comments, questions or additional information for this guide. 📩