my TYPST ProxMox Guide

[TrevorSmale]

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🏴‍☠️ Treasures HomeLab Guide
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#text(size: 30pt,)[HomeLab Guide]
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#text(size: 18pt,)[For RHCSA & RHCE Practice]
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#text(size: 10pt,)[Created by: Treasure 🏴‍☠️]
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#text(size: 14pt,)[Overview]
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Purpose\

This guide was created to help others set up a simple lab at home, allowing them to practice installing, configuring, administering, and automating Red Hat-based systems as needed. There are many ways to approach this setup, so consider this one of many options. This is a straightforward and reliable method that I have personally used. \

Covered in this guide\

1. Hardware\

finding affordable hardware for your first homelab with features that support Linux and Virtualization.

2.Software\

The software used to prepare installation media and hypervisor software to run practice machines.

3. Installation

The procedure involved in procuring, preparing and installing the ProxMox software on your chosem machine.

4. Setup Guide

The procedure for getting your first Virtual Machine setup and ready to use within the newly installed ProxMox virtual environment.

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#text(size: 14pt,)[Proxmox VE HyperVisor]
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Virtualization & Hypervisors

Virtualization allows multiple virtual machines VMs to run on one physical server, sharing resources like CPU, memory, and storage. This is managed by a hypervisor, which abstracts the hardware from VMs, enabling isolation and efficient resource usage. The biggest benefit for learners is the ability to make mistakes and recovering very quickly. Furthermore one can make several machines that interoperate.

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⚡︎ Proxmox Virtualization Technology

Proxmox VE is an open-source virtualization platform that combines KVM for full virtualization and LXC for containerization. It offers high-availability clustering, snapshots, and software-defined storage, making it a powerful option for managing VMs and containers.

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🤔 Headless Operation

Proxmox VE runs headless by default, meaning it operates without a local graphical interface. Administrators manage Proxmox remotely through a web-based GUI, fully dedicating the server’s resources to virtualization tasks.

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#text(size: 14pt,)[Prerequisite Hardware]
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🤓 Research\

It’s always helpful to dive into researching this on your own, as it will consequently teach you a lot about hardware—a skill that’s especially beneficial when you’re the sole technician for your homelab. However, if you find it overwhelming or simply don’t have the time, I’ve got you covered.\

Configuration

For me an ideal setup is hardwired. Meaning you will have one cable running from your new hardware back to a switch, then another cable running from the switch to your host computer.

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1. 💸 RJ-45 / Ethernet Cable Note: 2x long cables
2. Gigabit Switch with 2 open ports. Note: Your ISP supplied router will normally work. If not acquire one.
2. 💸 A Secondary Computer You may already have a second computer, if not I have a few rec's below.
3. USB Flash Drive 8gb, 16gb, 32gb - Whatever drive you can erase.\

👍 Recommended Specifications

• Mininimum Spec's: 4 Cores, 16 Gigs Memory, 256 Gigs Storage\
• Recommended Spec's: 6-8 Cores, 32 Gigs Memory, 1 TB Storage\

👍 Recommended Hardware\

• HP Elitedesk 800 [G3, G4, G5] Mini PC - Refurbished
• Lenovo ThinkCenter [M7- -, M9- -] Mini PC - Refurbished
• Dell OptiPlex [30- -, 50- -, 70- -] Mini PC - Refurbished

👍 Nice to have features\

• Intel vPro Technology\ Allows for remote management and secure access, which can be beneficial for virtualization management.
• Intel VT-x and AMD-V: Processor virtualization extensions that allow more efficient VM operations. Look for this feature in CPUs for improved virtual machine performance.
• Intel VT-d / AMD-Vi\ I/O virtualization extensions support direct memory access for VM hardware, which is critical for efficient network and storage performance in virtualized environments.
• ECC Memory Support\ Error-Correcting Code (ECC) memory reduces the risk of memory errors, improving server stability and data integrity.
• TPM (Trusted Platform Module)\ Useful for secure boot and storing encryption keys, which may add security to a virtualized environment.
• SATA 3 / SSD Support\ Having at least SATA 3 support, and ideally SSDs, can vastly improve disk I/O performance for VMs.
• NVMe Drive Support\ Faster than SATA SSDs, NVMe SSDs provide high throughput and low latency, which is helpful in data-intensive VMs.
• PCIe Slots\ These allow for additional expansion cards, such as network or storage cards, for systems that need expanded capability.
• High-Speed Network Cards (1G, 2.5G, or 10G Ethernet)\ Important for systems that will run multiple VMs or require high network throughput. Systems with an Intel i219 or similar network chip provide robust driver support on Linux.
• IOMMU (Input-Output Memory Management Unit)\ Necessary for pass-through of hardware devices to VMs, useful if running VMs with dedicated hardware access.
• BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) / Remote Management\ Allows for managing the server remotely, even if the operating system isn’t running, which is ideal for remote Proxmox administration.
• UEFI / Secure Boot Support\ Allows Proxmox and other Linux-based hypervisors to leverage secure boot mechanisms, especially relevant for modern virtualized environments.
• Dual Channel RAM: Enables more efficient memory access, improving VM performance on systems with shared memory resources.

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#text(size: 14pt,)[🪄 Installation Guide]
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This guide will help you install Balena Etcher, download Proxmox VE, and flash it onto a USB thumb drive. Additionally, a walk through of setting up Proxmox VE on your machine.

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📋 Requirements:

• USB Flashdrive 8+ Gigs
• Temporary Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor needed for Install only

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🔗 Links

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• 🔗(Clickable Link) To Balena Etcher Page]
  #link("https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads")[
• 🔗(Clickable Link) ProxMox Download Page]

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Step 1: Install Balena Etcher

• Visit Balena Etcher’s Website
• Download Balena Etcher
• Install Balena Etcher
• Open Balena Etcher

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Step 2: Download Proxmox VE

• Visit the Proxmox VE Website
• Download the Latest ISO Image

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Step 3: Flash Proxmox VE to a USB Thumb Drive

• Insert the USB Thumb Drive
• Open Balena Etcher
• Click the “Flash from file” button
• Click “Select target” and pick your USB drive from the list.
• Click “Flash!” and let Balena Etcher write the Proxmox installer to your USB thumb drive
• Once the process is complete, safely eject the USB drive

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Step 4: Open Your PC and Access the BIOS

• Shut down the PC and ensure the USB thumb drive with Proxmox is plugged in

• Turn on the PC and immediately press a key like DEL, ESC, or F2 (depending on your PC model) to enter the BIOS

• In the BIOS menu, look for the Boot Order or Boot Priority setting

• Move the USB thumb drive to the top of the list so the mini PC will boot from it first

• Save and Exit

• Note: You will likely have to return to the BIOS to alter other settings depending on what hardware features you have available. Things like IOMMU, Intel VT, TPM etc... This will require some personalized research to figure out what optimal settings are available.

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Step 5: Run the Proxmox VE Installer

• Boot into the Proxmox Installer
• Agree to the License Agreement
• Select the Installation Target
• Configure Location Settings
• Set Up a Password
• Configure network or skip if not sure
• You’ll need to configure the network interface
• Start the Installation
• When the installation finishes, remove the USB thumb drive and reboot the PC

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Step 6: Capture Address

• Once installed and rebooted, the display should show an IP address

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#text(size: 14pt,)[End of Install Process]
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#text(size: 14pt,)[Setting up your first VM]
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