Install Proxmox VE on Debian Squeeze

Note: Article about Proxmox VE 2.0 beta

Introduction

The installation of a supported Proxmox VE server should be done via Bare-metal_ISO_Installer. In some case it makes sense to install Proxmox VE on top of a running Debian Squeeze 64-bit, especially if you want a custom partition layout. For this HowTO the following Debian Squeeze ISO was used: PC Network Installer.

Suggested partition layout with LVM:

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         122      975872   83  Linux
/dev/sda2             122        5222    40965120   8e  Linux LVM

LVM:

 LV   VG   Attr   LSize  Origin Snap%  Move Log Copy%  Convert
 data pve  -wi-ao 30.69g
 root pve  -wi-ao  3.72g
 swap pve  -wi-ao  1.86g

Install a standard Debian Squeeze(amd64)

Install a standard Debian Squeeze (amd64), for details see Debian. Go for a LVM based partitioning and a fixed IP and take care that you have enough free space for snapshots (needed for online backup with vzdump)

Install Proxmox VE

Adapt your sources.list

Adapt your sources.list and add the Proxmox VE repository:

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib

# PVE packages provided by proxmox.com
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian squeeze pve

# security updates
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib

Add the Proxmox VE repository key:

wget -O- "http://download.proxmox.com/debian/key.asc" | apt-key add -

Update your repository and system by running:

aptitude update
aptitude full-upgrade

Install Proxmox VE Kernel

aptitude install pve-kernel-2.6.32-6-pve

Reboot and make sure to select Proxmox VE Kernel on the boot loader (grub2).

Optional - install Kernel headers:

aptitude install pve-headers-2.6.32-6-pve

Now restart the system using the Proxmox VE kernel.

Install Proxmox VE packages

Make sure you are running the Proxmox VE Kernel, otherwise the installation will fail.

Check the currently active Kernel:

uname -a
Linux 2.6.32-6-pve ... 

Install the Proxmox VE packages:

aptitude install proxmox-ve-2.6.32

Configure pve-redirect for apache2:

a2ensite pve-redirect.conf

And restart apache:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Install the rest of needed packages:

aptitude install ntp ssh lvm2 postfix ksm-control-daemon vzprocps

Accept the suggestion to remove Exim and configure postfix according to your network.

Connect to the Proxmox VE web interface

Connect to the admin web interface (https://youripaddress:8006) and configure the vmbr0 and review all other settings, finally reboot to check if everything is running as expected.

Optional: Developer Workstations with Proxmox VE and X11

Proxmox VE is primarily used as virtualization platform with NO additional software installed. In some case it makes sense to have a full desktop running on Proxmox VE, for example for developers using Proxmox VE as their primary workstation/desktop.

For example, just install gnome desktop:

aptitude install gnome-core gdm3 libcurl3 xdg-utils

Make sure network-manager is not used, else pve-cluster will not start

aptitude purge network-manager

To get a modern browser, Google Chrome is a good idea - download the 64-bit *.deb from Google, also install sun-java6-plugin.