This page is part of the larger series of converting an old laptop into a bare metal home lab server. Click the link to be taken back to the original post.

Proxmox VE 8: Converting a Laptop into a Bare Metal Server

In this post, we will take a look at an in-detail process of setting up a Proxmox home lab on a bare metal server.

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There will come times when certain operations in the GUI fail or a guest becomes non-responsive. You might want to shut down a guest, but it is not responding to your triggers. In cases like these, you should use the command line tools for Proxmox.

Command Line Tools

To enter the command line, you can either SSH or log in via the web console and enter a shell.

Right-click on the node name and choose shell.

VM Management

qm is the command line tool to manage VMs.

Show all available commands

qm help

List all the VMs on the node

qm list

Show the status of a VM

qm status [vm ID number]

Start a VM

qm start [vm ID number]

Force a VM to stop

qm shutdown [vm ID number] --forceStop 1 --timeout 1

Create a VM from the command line

qm create [options here]

Completely destroy and remove a VM

qm destroy [vm ID number] --destroy-unreferenced-disks --purge

Migrate a VM

May require the CLI if migration fails from the GUI. Moves a VM from one node to another (some prerequisites are necessary, like the same network bridge must exist on the target node)

qm migrate [vm ID number] [target-node] [options]

Many, many more commands

Container Management

pct is the command line tool to manage containers.

Show all available commands

pct help

List all the containers on the node

pct list

show the status of a container

pct status [ct ID number]

Start a container

pct start [ct ID number]

Force a container to stop

pct shutdown [ct ID number] --forceStop 1 --timeout 1

Enter a new shell on the target container

You can open a shell on a container from the Proxmox shell

pct enter

Create a container from the command line

pct create [options here]

Completely destroy and remove a container

pct destroy [ct ID number] --destroy-unreferenced-disks --purge

Migrate a container

May require the CLI if migration fails from the GUI. Moves a container from one node to another (some prerequisites are necessary, like the same network bridge must exist on the target node)

pct migrate [ct ID number] [target-node] [options]

Container Template Management

pveam is the command line tool to manage container templates and appliances.

Storage Management

Show all available commands

pvesm help

Show status of all storage volumes

pvesm status

Proxmox System Upgrades

pveupgrade

Show System Version

pveversion

Changing a Proxmox Node's IP Address

You may be in one of the following groups:

1. Your Proxmox node got a new IP address and now you cannot get to the web interface
2. You want to change your Proxmox node’s IP address to something else
   • Proxmox is statically configured with an IP address and will not get one from DHCP if that is what you are thinking.

If you are in group 1 or group 2, you can do this over SSH if the IP address is on the same subnet. If it’s on a new subnet, you will need to physically log into the server.

Update the Hosts File

nano /etc/hosts

Change the IP address on this line:

172.16.1.16 lapprox.home.lab

Do not change the IP address here:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

Press CTRL + X, enter Y, and press Enter to save your changes

Update the Interfaces File

nano /etc/network/interfaces

You should see something like this:

auto vmbr0_mgmt
iface vmbr0_mgmt inet static
        address 172.16.1.16/24
        gateway 172.16.1.1
        ovs_type OVSIntPort
        ovs_bridge vmbr0
# Proxmox Management

Change the address and gateway lines.
Press CTRL + X, enter Y, and press Enter to save your changes

Reload the Networking Service

ifreload -a

Double Check DNS

nano /etc/resolv.conf

Make sure the DNS server is correct here.

Correcting a Cluster After a Node's IP Has Changed

This action needs to be performed on all nodes in the cluster!

nano /etc/corosync/corosync.conf

You should see something like this:

nodelist {
  node {
    name: lapprox
    nodeid: 2
    quorum_votes: 1
    ring0_addr: 172.16.0.16
  }
  node {
    name: proxmox
    nodeid: 1
    quorum_votes: 1
    ring0_addr: 172.16.0.6
  }
}

Change the IP address on the ring0_addr line. Then, increment the config_version number +1. So here, 2 will become 3.

totem {  cluster_name: HomeLab
  config_version: 2
  interface {
    linknumber: 0
  }
  ip_version: ipv4-6
  link_mode: passive
  secauth: on
  version: 2
}

Press CTRL + X, enter Y, and press Enter to save your changes. Then, restart the Corosync service.

systemctl restart corosync.service

Proxmox Support Options

If you do not have an enterprise subscription, you can still access the Proxmox forums. Members of the community and moderators will offer help, but your requests will not be prioritized. In most cases, Google and forums will be a huge source of help -- enough to get you through most sticky situations.

Proxmox Official Forums: https://forum.proxmox.com/

Next Step: Running Windows Guests on Proxmox

Running Windows Guests on Proxmox

In this module, we will look at the optimal way to run Windows guests in our Proxmox home lab

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