Recently, I decided to breathe new life into an old server I had lying around and set it up as a virtualization host using Proxmox. With a hefty 80GB of RAM, a 12-core CPU and 6 x 512GB SSDs, one more M.2 SSD for the OS, this machine has plenty of resources for running multiple virtual machines (VMs). In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps I took to set it up and why I think Proxmox is the perfect fit for this kind of hardware.
Step 1: Preparing the installation
The first thing I did was download the Proxmox VE ISO from the official website. You can grab it from here. I used a tool called Rufus to create a bootable USB stick, which made the installation process easy. Once the bootable USB was ready, I plugged it into the server and booted from it. The Proxmox installer is pretty straightforward, so I just followed the on-screen instructions.
Step 2: Installation process
During the process, I was prompted to:
- Select the storage device for the Proxmox installation (I selected the M.2 SSD for the installation of the OS).
- Set up network configuration (I used a static IP for ease of access).
- Create an admin password and select the time zone.
Once the installation was complete, the system rebooted, and I was ready to start configuring Proxmox.
Step 3: Accessing the Proxmox web interface
One of the things I love about Proxmox is its web-based management interface. After the installation, I just opened my browser and navigated to https://<your-server-ip>:8006 to access the Proxmox web UI. I logged in using the root username and the password I set up during installation. From here, I could manage everything — from creating virtual machines to monitoring the health of the system.
Step 4: Storage setup
For storage, I took advantage of an additional M.2 SSD for the Proxmox operating system, which provided fast boot and performance. Since I had 6 x 512GB SSDs available, I decided to configure them using ZFS for data storage.
ZFS offers advanced features like data integrity, compression, and efficient snapshot capabilities, making it a great choice for managing storage on Proxmox. Here’s how I set it up:
- I first installed the Proxmox OS on the M.2 SSD.
- Then, I configured the 6 x 512GB SSDs using ZFS in a RAID-Z2 configuration for redundancy. RAID-Z2 offers a good balance of performance and fault tolerance, allowing for the loss of up to two drives without data loss.
- After creating the ZFS pool, I added it to Proxmox as a storage resource, so I could use it for storing virtual machine disks and other data.
ZFS also provides excellent data protection, and Proxmox’s integration with ZFS makes managing the storage pool simple via the web interface.
Step 5: Creating virtual machines
Now that Proxmox was running smoothly, I started setting up my virtual machines. The server’s 80GB of RAM and 12 cores gave me plenty of resources to spin up several VMs for different tasks. I created a few VMs for:
- Testing out different operating systems
- Running development environments
- Hosting smaller services or applications
Proxmox makes it incredibly easy to manage these VMs from the web interface. You can configure resources like CPU, RAM, and storage for each VM, and since Proxmox supports both KVM (for full virtualization) and LXC (for containers), you can choose the best option for your needs.
Step 6: Networking configuration
With multiple VMs running, I needed to make sure the network was properly configured. I opted for a simple bridge setup so that the VMs could communicate with each other and the outside world. Proxmox makes this easy through its network configuration options in the web interface.
Conclusion
Setting up Proxmox on an old server with was a smooth process. Proxmox handled the hardware like a champ, and the web interface made managing virtual machines and storage a breeze. This setup is now a powerful, cost-effective virtualization solution that I can use for a variety of tasks, from testing to hosting applications.
If you have an old server lying around, I highly recommend giving Proxmox a try. With its robust feature set and ease of use, it’s a great way to maximize the value of older hardware.