How To Install Proxmox VE On Debian Servers

Proxmox is the open-source hypervisor for hosting virtual machines and containers. In this guide, we will install Proxmox VE on top of a Debian 10 server. This install method does not require any ISO files to be mounted. This guide does not deal with any networking configuration. We have example networking guides for a Routed Proxmox setup. We’re going to install our Proxmox server with a custom partition layout because we want to use an LVM Thinpool. It’s likely you will have a different setup like software raid.

Networking Settings

It’s vital that you configure a hostname that resolves to your server. This means you will need to edit the /etc/hosts file. In the file you will see something like the line below, assuming you have a valid hostname configured.

127.0.1.1       nvme-fr10.domain.com       nvme-fr10

You will need to edit this line to include your servers IPv4 address and not the 127.x address. Before proceeding ensure you can ping your hostname and that it responds. This means you also need to ensure you have valid A records in place. You can also use hostname –ip-address to check.

Add Proxmox Repository

Add the Proxmox repository and key then update and upgrade. This will allow you to download Proxmox VE to your server.

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

# Add Key
wget http://download.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg chmod +r /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg

# Update & Upgrade
apt update && apt full-upgrade

Uninstall Current Firmware

Proxmox VE comes with it’s own software so to avoid any conflicts, remove any existing firmware.

aptitude -q -y purge firmware-bnx2x firmware-realtek firmware-linux firmware-linux-free firmware-linux-nonfree

Install Proxmox VE

Now, install Proxmox to your server. This will take some time. Once the install has completed, reboot the server.

apt-get install proxmox-ve

Final Proxmox Install Checks

Once rebooted you should now see the Proxmox kernel loaded. To check use uname -rv

5.4.106-1-pve #1 SMP PVE 5.4.106-1 (Fri, 19 Mar 2021 11:08:47 +0100)

The KVM module should also be loaded. To check use lsmod | grep kvm

kvm_intel             253952  0
kvm                   659456  1 kvm_intel
irqbypass              16384  1 kvm

If the KVM module is not loaded you can load the module with the following commands.

# Intel CPUs
modprobe kvm
modprobe kvm_intel

# AMD CPUs
modprobe kvm
modprobe kvm_amd

That’s the install of Proxmox VE completed and you can access the control interface by navigating to the hostname you configured at the start of this article followed by :8006, https://host.domain.com:8006