To borrow the Proxmox web site's description: "Proxmox VE is a complete open-source platform for enterprise virtualization. With the built-in web interface you can easily manage VMs and containers, software-defined storage and networking, high-availability clustering, and multiple out-of-the-box tools on a single solution."
I've been a user and promoter of open-source solutions since the '90s, so this seems right up my alley. I can think of a few different ways I could use Proxmox, and Cisco's very own David Nguyen is already using it in his home. He's going to give my team a demo and lesson on Proxmox this Friday.
In the meantime, I try it out on a couple of dirt cheap mini PCs. I'll chronicle my progress here in the hopes that my failures and successes can help some of you. The ultimate goal is to create a prototype high-availability web site and network attached storage system. And, to just play around with guest operating systems.
First, I order the two mini PCs for about $85 each on Amazon. One is Intel-based, the other AMD, but they look identical.
Both have 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. They come with WIFI and an Ethernet port. The Intel box arrives first.
Proxmox installation is very simple. I created a bootable Proxmox thumb drive, boot into the BIOS settings and tell the mini PC to boot from USB. The installer asks a couple questions but it mostly does all the work for you. You have no choice but to allow Proxmox to take over your entire drive, which is cool by me, since that's what I bought these boxes for.
Tip #1: Don't rely on WIFI. Connect the Ethernet ports of both boxes to your switch or router. Proxmox installation doesn't give you an opportunity to set up your WIFI password. You can do that after it's installed, but it's more trouble than it's worth. And I've seen some discussions about how it creates problems for bridging.
Once Proxmox is installed, you manage it from a web browser on another PC. So I go to my home PC and browse to the Proxmox URL. Looks great so far.
I install two guest operating systems on the box. First, I install Lubuntu, a lightweight version of Ubuntu Linux. Then I install Windows 11 Home. This is where I run into my first hangup. One of the applications I install on Windows, 1Password, is set up to use my USB Yubikey for verification. Proxmox has an option where you can add USB hardware to the virtual machine. Proxmox doesn't see the Yubikey plugged into the USB switch I use to share mouse and keyboard with all my PCs.
I plug the Yubikey into the mini PC itself. Now when I add the USB device, Proxmox recognizes the Yubikey. But it doesn't work. I touch the key when 1Password expects me to touch it, and then it rejects the key. I have no idea if Proxmox is at fault here or it's just the cheap-o mini PC. But I shrug it off and move on.
At this point, Proxmox sees Lubuntu as vm:100 and Windopes-11 as vm:101. (Yes, that's what I named the Windows guest.)
My AMD-based mini PC arrives, and I install Proxmox on it. I log into the first box and create a cluster. I log into the second box and join the cluster. I go back to the first box and issue these high-availability commands (I may have left out a few steps, since I'm writing this from memory):
ha-manager add vm:100
ha-manager add vm:101
ha-manager migrate vm:100 pve2
ha-manager migrate vm:101 pve2
This is how the primary server view looks now:
I expected Lubuntu and Windopes-11 to show up under the other server in the cluster, pve2, but perhaps I don't know how high availability works in Proxmox. Or maybe I just didn't execute the right commands.
Oh, wait, there's an error message. It says it can't migrate the Lubuntu CD-ROM (which is actually just an ISO attached as a virtual CD-ROM). I remove it from the Lubuntu vm and try the migrate again. This time it seems to be working.
Anyway, that's as much of the story as I'll tell this chapter. David Nguyen is going to teach the team a bit about Proxmox tomorrow. Maybe I'll have a lot more to say afterwards, so stay tuned.
Oh, and why Tales From The Crypt? It's so hot here in Texas that demons are exorcising themselves and going back to hell to cool off. I've closed the blinds and covered my window to keep the sun from adding to the room's heat. While it makes my home office room dark enough to be a crypt, and it does help, it's still hot in here no matter how I set my A/C.
