Virtualization using Proxmox VE

Published in

btech-engineering

7 min readMar 17, 2023

Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) is an open-source server virtualization management platform that allows users to manage virtual machines (VMs), containers, and software-defined storage in a single web-based interface.

Proxmox VE is based on the KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and LXC (Linux Containers) virtualization technologies and supports a wide range of operating systems including Linux, Windows, and macOS. The platform provides a centralized web-based management interface that allows users to create, configure, and manage VMs and containers, as well as software-defined storage and network resources.

Proxmox VE offers a variety of features including high availability clustering, live migration, backup and restore, disaster recovery, and security enhancements. The platform also provides built-in support for various virtualization management tools such as QEMU, LVM, and ZFS.

Proxmox VE is used by IT professionals and organizations of all sizes to run virtualized workloads and applications, and it is particularly popular in the education and research sectors due to its ease of use and flexibility. The platform is free to use, but enterprise-level support and services are available for a fee.

Installation

The requirements to install Proxmox https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve/requirements
Download ISO image Proxmox VE, the URL for download https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads
Run Server using downloaded ISO Proxmox VE, then select Install Proxmox VE

Accept End User License Agreement (EULA) of Proxmox VE, select I agree

Select Target Harddisk to Install Proxmox VE from list disks on the server, then klik Next

Select Location and Time Zone for server (Country, Time zone, and Keyboard Layout), then klik Next

Fill password that will using for root and email address for administration, then klik Next

Management Network Configuration, select Management Interface from interface list on the server, Hostname for server, IP Address that used by server, Gateway and DNS Server. Then klik Next

Summary Configuration View, before installing the component of Proxmox VE to server

Installation successful appearance, then klik Reboot. After that you can access Proxmox web UI from web browser using selected IP address on port 8006, and using credential root and password which previously set

Proxmox UI

Clustering

Clustering in Proxmox VE refers to the ability to group multiple Proxmox nodes together to form a high availability (HA) cluster. This allows for the sharing of resources such as virtual machines (VMs) and storage, as well as provides failover capabilities in case of hardware or software failures.

Prerequisite

Multiple nodes or servers that has been installed with Proxmox
Multiple nodes connect each others
Installed chrony on each servers

There are two method to clustering an proxmox VE servers, using Dashboard Proxmox, and CLI (Command Line Interface), there are the steps to create cluster an Proxmox VE

Using Dashboard

Login to dashboard proxmox one of the nodes
Klik Datacenter, Klik Cluster, and Create Cluster

Enter the name of cluster and select the network for cluster (management network) to connect other nodes of proxmox, the click Create

Cluster Information step, Klik Join Information, and then Copy Information that will paste from other nodes to join the cluster.

Login to Dashboard Proxmox other nodes
Klik Datacenter section, klik Cluster, and then klik Join Cluster
Paste encode information that was copied before from first node, then klik Join

Wait until the process of joining cluster finish
To Verifiy the clustering of Proxmox VE, Login to Dashboard, Klik Datacenter and then Klik Cluster. There is information of cluster and nodes list from cluster

2. CLI (Command Line Interface)

Login to first node of Proxmox VE using ssh or console
Create cluster

pvecm create {cluster-name}

Status check

pvecm status

Add other nodes to cluster

# login to other servers
pvecm add {ip-address-of-first-node}

Verify the cluster

# pvecm status

Cluster information
-------------------
Name:             cluster-prox
Config Version:   3
Transport:        knet
Secure auth:      on

Quorum information
------------------
Date:             Sat Jul 16 09:16:29 2022
Quorum provider:  corosync_votequorum
Nodes:            3
Node ID:          0x00000001
Ring ID:          1.47
Quorate:          Yes

Votequorum information
----------------------
Expected votes:   3
Highest expected: 3
Total votes:      3
Quorum:           2  
Flags:            Quorate 

Membership information
----------------------
    Nodeid      Votes Name
0x00000001          1 172.168.1.101 (local)
0x00000002          1 172.168.1.102
0x00000003          1 172.168.1.103

Proxmox VE Storage

Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) provides several storage options to manage virtual machines (VMs) and containers.

Here are some of the storage options available in Proxmox VE:

Local storage: This refers to the storage that is directly attached to the Proxmox VE host. It can be in the form of a local hard drive or a RAID array.
Shared storage: Proxmox VE supports a variety of shared storage options, including Network File System (NFS), iSCSI, and Fiber Channel.
ZFS: Proxmox VE includes support for ZFS (Zettabyte File System), which is a robust and scalable file system that provides data integrity and protection against data corruption.
Ceph: Proxmox VE also supports Ceph, an open-source distributed storage system that provides highly scalable and fault-tolerant storage.
GlusterFS: GlusterFS is another distributed storage system that is supported by Proxmox VE.

In addition to these storage options, Proxmox VE also provides features such as backup and restore, live migration, and high availability clustering, which can help ensure the availability and integrity of VMs and containers.

Default Storage (Local Storage)

Default storage using local disk nodes to provide an storage on Proxmox, there are pve-swap, pve-root, and pve-data.

There are two types storage local and local-lvm

local storage for save backup files, ISO images, and CT Templates, while local-lvm for save disk data, volume of VM and CT

2. Storage Cluster CEPH

Proxmox VE also supports Ceph, an open-source distributed storage system that provides highly scalable and fault-tolerant storage. Storage cluster CEPH can setup to Proxmox VE with following methods

Create new network bridge to each server or nodes for storage network
Klik nodes name, klik System, klik Network, and then klik Create

Login to each servers using ssh or console
Install ceph to each nodes

pveceph install --version octopus

Initiate ceph cluster

#Run on first server
pveceph init --network 172.11.11.0/24
pveceph createmon

Add Ceph monitor and Ceph manager from Dashboard
Klik node names, klik Ceph, and klik Monitor

Add monitor and manager node with create button

Create OSD to cluster Ceph using dashboard
Klik node names, klik Ceph, and klik OSD
Klik Create OSD, select Disk and Create, and wait until creating OSD process finish