[MUSIC] Hello again everyone and welcome back to Learn Linux TV. In today's video, what I'm going to do is give you an updated getting started guide on Proxmox, and that's what I have right here, a Proxmox server. You're probably wondering what the server was on my desk, but given the title of this video, you probably figured it out before I mentioned it. Anyway, I have permission to show you this build right here. It was made for a client, and he was nice enough to give me the go-ahead to show you guys this build, which is exactly what I'm going to do. But this entire video isn't dedicated just to this build. Yes, I will give you a parts list, and I'll give you my thoughts on my hardware selection, in this case right here. But it's more than just that, because I'm going to tell you everything that you need to know to get started with Proxmox, even if you already have a server that you plan on installing it on. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the fact that I have an entire Proxmox course here on this channel that's available for free, just like all the other videos on my YouTube page. You can check out that entire series and learn everything you need to know when it comes to maintaining a Proxmox implementation. This video is more of a getting started guide, which is hit more towards beginners. But if you like Proxmox, especially after you check it out in this video, and you want to learn even more about it, then you should definitely check out that series. That tutorial series went over an older version of Proxmox, but Proxmox doesn't change a lot for one version to another. So you can still use that course here today in 2023 to get started with Proxmox or master Proxmox, which is exactly what that series will help you do. Now with all of that out of the way, let's dive into Proxmox. If you look below in the description, you'll find time codes there. So you can get started with Proxmox with the time code that best matches where you are in the process. If you want to build a server, then you'll find a time code for that. If you already have a server, then you'll find a time code that shows you how to install Proxmox. Definitely check out the time code list down below to get an idea of what I cover in today's video. And with all of that said, let's dive into Proxmox. All right, so let's get started. And I figured a good place to start is to talk about this build right here. If you don't already have a server that you can install Proxmox onto, then well, if you have the budget, this build right here is a good way to go. Now, the cheapest way to go though, is to use any hardware that you might have lying around. And that's especially good if you want to recycle those computers rather than have them end up in a landfill. Let's put them to use. If you have something in your closet, and this might not be the first thing that everyone thinks of, but if you have something in your closet that is just collecting dust, and it might be powerful enough to run Proxmox, then that might be a great way to get started as well. Again, that way, you know, things stay out of the landfill and we make better use of our technology. Anyway, let's check out this build right here and I'll show you what I came up with. In this section, we're going to check out the specifics of the server that I've built. The one that you just saw on my desk. This was actually created for a client. However, I have permission to show you the build in this video. For the motherboard, this build features ASRock Rack and this was my first time checking out their server line of products. In case you're curious, the model number is being shown on the screen right now. One thing I really like about this motherboard is the server management utility, which is built in with nothing for you to install whatsoever. The best part is that you can use the server management utility to access an integrated KVM and that will let you see an emulated display that you can interact with, just as if you had a monitor, keyboard, and mouse attached to the actual server itself. But this is the virtual version of that and you'll see me use this later on in the video when I install Proxmox. Other parts inside this build include an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU, four sticks of 32 gigabyte ECC memory, and two Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSDs for the OS and initial virtual machine storage. In addition to those parts, this build also includes a hard disk dock that can hold up to six 2.5 inch hard disks. With this build in particular, there's six one terabyte SSDs that are installed into this dock right now, so it's not going to run out of space anytime soon. Excluding the dock and SSDs, the build comes to around 1800 US dollars. The dock and SSDs add about $750 to the overall cost. But keep in mind that these are all estimates and part prices seem to go up and down nowadays, so just look at the current prices if you want to build something similar. After putting together the build and having a chance to check it out, it really does seem like a very good stable build. However, there were a few pain points that we ran into. First off, no matter what I tried, the HDMI port simply does not work on this motherboard. I tried all the BIOS settings that I could find, even as far as disabling dedicated GPU support, even though I didn't even install a GPU at all. And even with that, nothing I tried would make the HDMI port function at all. After doing some Googling, I saw some posts from other people that are having this same problem. Ultimately, the lack of an HDMI port didn't really matter so much when it comes to this project. Since you can't access the server via the integrated server management utility, then that means the HDMI port probably wouldn't have been used anyway. Still, if you have an HDMI port on a motherboard, you would probably expect that to be more than just a decoration, but it is what it is. The second issue that we ran into was with the case, specifically fitting a power supply into the case. The chassis that we went with was from iStar USA, and it's a fairly decent, if you know, overly simplistic case, but the problem that we ran into was sourcing a power supply that would fit inside the case. Simply no power supply I could find would fit, not a single one, and I tried various varieties of power supplies, but I had no luck. Thankfully, there are 3D printer templates you could download that'll enable you to print a bracket you could use to make the power supply fit properly. It's just really weird that the actual power supply for server chassis made by this company are sometimes really hard to source. I went with an SFX power supply in this case, and I used a alteration to ensure that it is secured to the case, but it's strange that this is something I had to do in the first place. All in all, though, other than the HDMI issue, the ASRock Rack motherboard in this build is just awesome. The CPU is quite fast too, and paired with NVMe storage is just a really great server. Anyway, enough about the build. Let's talk about installing Proxmox itself, which is what we'll take care of in the next section. (scratching) So at this point, either you already have a server that you've set aside for installing Proxmox onto, or maybe you built one along with me like I did in this video. Either way, we need to install Proxmox, otherwise, well, what's the point? So let's check out the process of setting up Proxmox on our server. (scratching) In order to get started, the first thing we'll need to do is create bootable media. I have videos on my channel already that goes over the process of flashing USB media with an ISO image to create bootable media, so I won't go into too much detail about that here. I'll leave a card for that video right about here if you want to see a dedicated walkthrough when it comes to using something like USB Imager. But anyway, what you'll do is download the ISO image for Proxmox VE from the official website, and then you'll use a tool such as USB Imager to create the media. Once that's done, we'll boot the server from our Proxmox installation media, and you should see the start screen that you see right here. You can simply press Enter right here, and then the installation media will boot the server into the full Proxmox VE installer. After that, we'll see the end user license agreement, which you can accept by clicking I agree. Aren't these license agreements just annoying? Anyway, once you've accepted that, the next screen will have us set up the hard disk for Proxmox itself. You should be able to see all of your disks in the dropdown box right here, and if you have only one disk, then you can simply select that to keep it simple. In my case, I wanted the two NVMe disks to be used for the OS itself, specifically with ZFS. So for this build, I chose ZFS RAID 1 for the disk arrangement. After you make your selections, you simply click Next to move on to the next screen. Continuing, at this point, we'll choose our location and time zone settings. All you should have to do is change each selection to match your desired preferences, and once you've done that, you simply click Next. After that, it's time to set up a password for the root user, which you'll enter twice on this screen right here. You'll also enter your email address, and you should use a real email address here because, well, that's where notifications will be sent to. So it is pretty important. In my case, I just used a sample email address since I was simply testing Proxmox at the time I recorded this footage, but in your case, I recommend that you use a real email address. The next screen is one that you'll want to pay special attention to because these network details need to be just right. Otherwise, you won't be able to access the installation once it's finished. The first thing we'll do on this screen is choose a host name for the server. If you happen to have a domain, you can append that as well, but you have to add something here. It doesn't matter so much what you name your server, but I'd recommend coming up with some sort of naming scheme. For the IP address, you'll want to use an IP that's not claimed by anything else in your network and is also outside the DHCP range of your router. So you'll fill in the IP address and also the Gateway IP and DNS IP. And once you've done all that, you should be good to go. So click next. Finally, a summary screen will appear similar to the one that you see right here. Just confirm that everything is set up properly before continuing. Also, keep in mind that this will erase everything on the hard disk that you've chosen for Proxmox. So definitely be aware of that before clicking install. Once you do though, it'll take some time for the process to finish. And once it does, you'll see this final screen right here. Now be sure to pay special attention to the URL that you see right here, as well as the port number. You'll need both of these when it comes to accessing Proxmox later. Anyway, we'll reboot the server and well, that's it. After your server restarts, you should be good to go to access Proxmox VE. And then when it comes to logging in, you'll use root for the username and the password that you've entered in before during installation. That's the password that you'll use right here. Once you type that in, you'll be logged into the server. Now, before we go any further, it'll be a great idea to update Proxmox and ensure that everything is up to the latest version. To do that, we'll first click on the name of the node. In my case, it's this one right here. And after you click on your node, you'll then click on updates. On the update screen, the next thing you'll do is click the refresh button. Now keep in mind, unless you've purchased a license for Proxmox, you will see errors on the screen and that's okay. The update process will still work. You just won't have the updates that are included in the enterprise repository. However, we should be able to install all the other updates just fine. Once it's finished, you'll see a list of updates on this screen, like you see right here. However, there's one more recommendation I would like to make. If you don't personally have any plans of buying a license for Proxmox, then what I recommend is that you enable the no subscription repository. Now these updates won't be tested as much as the ones in the enterprise repository, but it's better to have this if nothing else. To add this, what we'll do is click on repositories, which is underneath updates. Then we'll click add. And when this box appears, we'll simply click okay to get rid of that message. And then we'll click add. After that, we'll go back to updates. We'll click the refresh button again to make sure that the new repository is taken into account when it comes to available updates. And then once that's done, we'll click upgrade the button right here. This process will take some time, depending on how many updates there are. And when it's done, we'll reboot the server. To do that, we'll make sure that our Proxmox node is selected right here. And then we'll simply click the reboot button. After that, we'll wait some time for the server to come back up. And once it does, we should be good to go. But now that we've installed Proxmox and we've updated it, what should we do next? Well, launching a virtual machine would be a great next step. So let's take care of that in the next section. Congratulations. At this point, we have our very own Proxmox server that's set up and it's fully operational. It's just waiting to do work for us, but we haven't given it anything to do, have we? In fact, we haven't even created a single VM yet. So let's rectify that right now. What I'm going to do at this time in the video is show you the process of setting up a Debian-based virtual machine on Proxmox. So let's get started. When it comes to spinning up a virtual machine, the first thing that we'll need is to download an ISO image for the operating system that we plan on installing inside of the virtual machine. Thankfully, Proxmox VE makes this very easy. All we have to do is find the download link for the ISO image that we want to download and copy the link to that image. Once you've copied it, you select your local storage right here and then you click on ISO images. And then we'll simply paste in the URL into the top box right here. After pasting in the URL, what we'll do is click Query URL. That should automatically generate the file name for the ISO image. After that, we click Download, and well, it's going to download the ISO image, and after that, we'll be able to use it. To create the actual virtual machine, what we'll do is click the Create VM button right here at the top. Note that we can also create containers here, but we won't be covering containers in this video. If you want to learn how to create containers within Proxmox, that's a good reason to check out my Proxmox series that will go over that and a lot more. Anyway, to create our VM, what we'll do is fill out each of the required sections in the configuration panel that appears. Before we continue though, pay special attention to the ID number that appears within this box right here. We won't be configuring the ID number just yet, but it's a good idea to know what it is, at least in summary. Basically, when you go to create a virtual machine, the next unused ID number will be automatically placed into this box. You could use the ID number that's assigned as is, or you could even set your own. Regardless, every VM and container in Proxmox needs a unique ID number, and if you try to reuse an existing ID number, the process will refuse to continue. Here, I kept the existing ID number since I have no other VM anyway. The next step is for us to select an ISO image, which we've already downloaded. So as long as the correct storage is selected, all we should have to do is drop this down right here, and we should see our Debian ISO image listed in this section. If you don't see it, just make sure that the dropdown above is set to the same name of the storage volume that you've added the ISO image to earlier. And that should be all there is for this screen right here, so we'll click next. Our next step is to configure the primary virtual hard disk for our VM. In my case, since this build uses exclusively SSDs, I made sure to check the discard box, this one right here, and I left the size at 32 gigabytes for the volume, but you could change that accordingly to suit your needs. After that, we set the number of cores. I set this to two in my case, but you can add as many cores as you want, but try to stay underneath the total number of cores for the host if you can. Anyway, continuing, memory is the next thing that we'll configure. I set it to two gigabytes in my case, and one thing to note here is that some OS installers are memory-hungry, so even if I don't plan on using two gigabytes of RAM with the VM, it's not uncommon to crank up the RAM and the cores while installing an operating system just to make the process faster, and then you could always lower the number of cores and amount of RAM afterwards if you'd like. Some installers will literally crash if you set this to be lower than two gigabytes, but again, you could always adjust that and lower the amount of RAM after some point in the future. The next tab after memory gives us a chance to set up our virtual network, or more specifically, to choose the network that the virtual machine will run on. By default, you'll only have one. Later on, it's a good idea to separate the management network and the VM network, but that's outside the scope of this video, and that's also something you can learn from my Proxmox course if you're interested. For now, though, we'll leave this as is and click Next. The final step is to review the settings overview that's presented right here, and if everything looks good, we can click Finish. If we want the VM to start immediately, we could check the box here. That's labeled Start After Created. If that's something that you want to happen, check that box, but either way, we'll finish the process. From that point forward, what we'll do is install the operating system just like we would on any other platform. In the case of Debian, I kept everything at their defaults for the most part, but if you want a dedicated video that walks you through setting up Debian and how to answer each of these prompts, I'll leave a card for my video on that right here. But for the most part, you could simply choose the defaults for just about everything, and you should be fine. And, well, there's our video. I hope you guys enjoyed this updated Getting Started Guide for Proxmox. I had a ton of fun producing this content, and if you did enjoy it, then please consider clicking the Like button to let YouTube know how helpful this content was. I'd really appreciate that. Anyway, in the meantime, I have a ton of content coming, so be sure to subscribe to Learn Linux TV for the latest in Linux, and I'll see you in the next video. (upbeat music)
