Being a college student is awesome because you get access to all this software for FREE! I was fortunate to have access to VMware products for free and I love playing with those tools. However, I graduate soon which means I have to transition to free(affordable) solutions for virtualization. I have decided to go with Proxmox as my solution and this guide will show you how to set it up :).

Install/Setup/Configure Proxmox

Install/Setup Proxmox

1. Burn Proxmov ISO to a USB or CD
2. Boot ISO from CD or USB
3. Select “Install Proxmov VE”
4. Accept the license agreement
5. Proxmox virtualization environment
   1. Select the disk you wish to install proxmov on
6. Location and time zone
   1. Enter “United States” for country
   2. Select “America/New_York” for timezone
      1. Select the timezone that applies to you
   3. Select “English” for keyboard layout
7. Administrative password
   1. Enter a password
   2. Enter “[email protected]” for e-mail
8. Management network configuration
   1. Select a network interface to serve the management webGUI on.
   2. Enter “pve.hackinglab.tech” for hostname
   3. Enter “172.16.54.130” for IP address
   4. Enter “255.255.255.0” for netmask
   5. Enter “172.16.54.2” for gateway
   6. Enter “172.16.54.2” for DNS
9. Reboot

Setup/Configure Proxmox from webGUI

1. Browse to “https://172.16.54.130:8006”
2. Login into webgui
   1. User: root
   2. Pass: Password entered during installation

Setup ZFS pool storage

1. Login via ssh
2. /sbin/modprobe zfs
   1. Load ZFs modules
3. zpool create -f -o ashift=12 my-zfs-pool raidz1 /dev/sda /dev/sdb
4. Login into proxmox via “https://172.16.54.130:8006”
5. Select “Datacenter” then select “Storage”
6. Create container storage
   1. Select “Add” then “ZFS”
      1. Enter “zfs-containers” for ID
      2. Select “my-zfs-pool” for ZFS pool
      3. Select “container” for content
      4. Select “Add”
7. Create vm-disk storage
   1. Select “Add” then “ZFS”
      1. Enter “vm-disk” for ID
      2. Select “my-zfs-pool” for ZFS pool
      3. Select “disk image” for content
      4. CHECK “thin provision”
      5. Select “Add”
8. Create VM template storage
   1. Select “Add” then “directory”
   2. Enter “zfs-templates” for ID
   3. Enter “/my-zfs-pool” for directory
   4. Select “ISO image” and “Container template” for content
   5. Select “Add”

Upload ISOs to Proxmox

1. Select “zfs-templates” under “pve”
2. Select “Upload”
   1. Select “ISO image” for content
   2. Select File
   3. Select “Upload”

 

 

Create VMs, LXC containers and VM templates

Create VM

1. Select “Create VM” in the top right
2. General
   1. Select “pve” for node
   2. Leave VM ID as default
   3. Enter “centos” for name
3. OS
   1. Select “Linux 4.X/3.X/2.6 Kernel”
4. CD/DVD
   1. Select “zfs-templates” for storage
   2. Select “Centos-7-64-bit” for ISO
5. Hard disk
   1. Enter “40” for disk size
6. CPU
   1. Select “2” for cores
7. Memory
   1. Enter “2048” for Memory
8. Network
   1. Select “Bridged mode”
9. Confirm
10. Select “100(centos)” on the left
11. Select “Start” in the top right then select “console”

 

Create VM template and clones

Create VM template

1. Select “Create VM” in the top right
2. General
   1. Select “pve” for node
   2. Leave VM ID as default
   3. Enter “CentosBaseTemplate” for name
3. OS
   1. Select “Linux 4.X/3.X/2.6 Kernel”
4. CD/DVD
   1. Select “zfs-templates” for storage
   2. Select “Centos-7-64-bit” for ISO
5. Hard disk
   1. Enter “40” for disk size
6. CPU
   1. Select “2” for cores
7. Memory
   1. Enter “2048” for Memory
8. Network
   1. Select “Bridged mode”
9. Confirm
10. Right-click “CentosBaseTemplate” on the left and select “Covert to template”

Create VM clone

1. Right-click “CentosBaseTemplate” and select “clone”
2. Enter “TempCentos” for name
3. Select “Linked clone” for mode
4. Select “clone”

 

Create LXC container

Download LXC templates

1. Select “zfs-templates” on the left
2. Select “templates” at the top
3. Select “centos-7-default” and select download

 

Create LXC container

1. Select “Datacenter” then select “Create CT” in top right
2. General
   1. Enter “centos-lxc” for hostname
   2. Enter “password123” for password
3. Tempalte
   1. Select “zfs-template” for storage
   2. Select “centos-7-default” for tempalte
4. root disk
   1. accept defaults
5. CPU
   1. Enter “2” for cores
6. Memory
   1. Enter “1024” for memory
7. Network
   1. Select “DHCP” for IPv4
8. DNS
   1. Leave blank
9. Select “Done”

 

Resources/Sources

• Proxmox Download
• Howto access USB storage from the ESXi shell
• Proxmox + ZFS