1 [[chapter_installation]]
11 {pve} is based on Debian. This is why the install disk images (ISO files)
12 provided by Proxmox include a complete Debian system as well as all necessary
15 TIP: See the xref:faq-support-table[support table in the FAQ] for the
16 relationship between {pve} releases and Debian releases.
18 The installer will guide you through the setup, allowing you to partition the
19 local disk(s), apply basic system configurations (for example, timezone,
20 language, network) and install all required packages. This process should not
21 take more than a few minutes. Installing with the provided ISO is the
22 recommended method for new and existing users.
24 Alternatively, {pve} can be installed on top of an existing Debian system. This
25 option is only recommended for advanced users because detailed knowledge about
30 include::pve-system-requirements.adoc[]
32 include::pve-installation-media.adoc[]
37 [[installation_installer]]
38 Using the {pve} Installer
39 -------------------------
41 The installer ISO image includes the following:
43 * Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
45 * The {pve} installer, which partitions the local disk(s) with ext4, XFS,
46 BTRFS (technology preview), or ZFS and installs the operating system.
48 * {pve} Linux kernel with KVM and LXC support
50 * Complete toolset for administering virtual machines, containers, the host
51 system, clusters and all necessary resources
53 * Web-based management interface
55 NOTE: All existing data on the for installation selected drives will be removed
56 during the installation process. The installer does not add boot menu entries
57 for other operating systems.
59 Please insert the xref:installation_prepare_media[prepared installation media]
60 (for example, USB flash drive or CD-ROM) and boot from it.
62 TIP: Make sure that booting from the installation medium (for example, USB) is
63 enabled in your server's firmware settings. Secure boot needs to be disabled
64 when booting an installer prior to {pve} version 8.1.
66 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-grub-menu.png"]
68 After choosing the correct entry (e.g. Boot from USB) the {pve} menu will be
69 displayed and one of the following options can be selected:
71 Install {pve} (Graphical)::
73 Starts the normal installation.
75 TIP: It's possible to use the installation wizard with a keyboard only. Buttons
76 can be clicked by pressing the `ALT` key combined with the underlined character
77 from the respective button. For example, `ALT + N` to press a `Next` button.
79 Install {pve} (Console)::
81 Starts the console-mode installation wizard. It provides the same overall
82 installation experience as the graphical installer, but has generally better
83 compatibility with very old and very new hardware.
85 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-tui-installer.png"]
87 Both modes use the same code base for the actual installation process to
88 benefit from more than a decade of bug fixes and ensure feature parity.
90 TIP: The 'Console Mode' option can be used in case the graphical installer does
91 not work correctly, due to e.g. driver issues.
93 Advanced Options: Install {pve} (Graphical Debug Mode)::
95 Starts the installation in debug mode. A console will be opened at several
96 installation steps. This helps to debug the situation if something goes wrong.
97 To exit a debug console, press `CTRL-D`. This option can be used to boot a live
98 system with all basic tools available. You can use it, for example, to
99 xref:chapter_zfs[repair a degraded ZFS 'rpool'] or fix the
100 xref:sysboot[bootloader] for an existing {pve} setup.
102 Advanced Options: Install {pve} (Console Debug Mode)::
104 Same as the graphical debug mode, but preparing the system to run the
105 console-mode installer instead.
107 Advanced Options: Install {pve} (Console Debug - nomodeset)::
109 Starts the normal console-mode installation, but prevents the Linux kernel from
110 loading any graphics driver. Can be used as a last-resort option, if e.g. an
111 incompatible driver is automatically loaded on boot.
113 Advanced Options: Rescue Boot::
115 With this option you can boot an existing installation. It searches all attached
116 hard disks. If it finds an existing installation, it boots directly into that
117 disk using the Linux kernel from the ISO. This can be useful if there are
118 problems with the boot block (grub) or the BIOS is unable to read the boot block
121 Advanced Options: Test Memory (memtest86+)::
123 Runs `memtest86+`. This is useful to check if the memory is functional and free
126 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-select-target-disk.png"]
128 After selecting *Install {pve}* and accepting the EULA, the prompt to select the
129 target hard disk(s) will appear. The `Options` button opens the dialog to select
130 the target file system.
132 The default file system is `ext4`. The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is used when
133 `ext4` or `xfs` is selected. Additional options to restrict LVM space
134 can also be set (see <<advanced_lvm_options,below>>).
136 {pve} can be installed on ZFS. As ZFS offers several software RAID levels, this
137 is an option for systems that don't have a hardware RAID controller. The target
138 disks must be selected in the `Options` dialog. More ZFS specific settings can
139 be changed under `Advanced Options` (see <<advanced_zfs_options,below>>).
141 WARNING: ZFS on top of any hardware RAID is not supported and can result in data
144 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-select-location.png", float="left"]
146 The next page asks for basic configuration options like the location, the time
147 zone, and keyboard layout. The location is used to select a download server
148 close by to speed up updates. The installer usually auto-detects these settings.
149 They only need to be changed in the rare case that auto detection fails or a
150 different keyboard layout should be used.
152 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-set-password.png"]
154 Next the password of the superuser (root) and an email address needs to be
155 specified. The password must consist of at least 5 characters. It's highly
156 recommended to use a stronger password. Some guidelines are:
158 - Use a minimum password length of 12 to 14 characters.
160 - Include lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers, and symbols.
162 - Avoid character repetition, keyboard patterns, common dictionary words,
163 letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names, romantic links
164 (current or past), and biographical information (for example ID numbers,
165 ancestors' names or dates).
167 The email address is used to send notifications to the system administrator.
170 - Information about available package updates.
172 - Error messages from periodic CRON jobs.
174 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-setup-network.png"]
176 The last step is the network configuration. Network interfaces that are UP show
177 a filled circle in front of their name in the drop down menu. Please note that
178 during installation you can either use an IPv4 or IPv6 address, but not both. To
179 configure a dual stack node, add additional IP addresses after the installation.
181 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-installation.png", float="left"]
183 The next step shows a summary of the previously selected options. Re-check every
184 setting and use the `Previous` button if a setting needs to be changed. To
185 accept, press `Install`. The installation starts to format disks and copies
186 packages to the target. Please wait until this step has finished; then remove
187 the installation medium and restart your system.
189 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-install-summary.png"]
191 If the installation failed, check out specific errors on the second TTY
192 (`CTRL + ALT + F2') and ensure that the systems meets the
193 xref:install_minimal_requirements[minimum requirements]. If the installation
194 is still not working, look at the xref:getting_help[how to get help chapter].
196 Further configuration is done via the Proxmox web interface. Point your browser
197 to the IP address given during installation (https://youripaddress:8006).
199 NOTE: Default login is "root" (realm 'PAM') and the root password was defined
200 during the installation process.
202 [[advanced_lvm_options]]
203 Advanced LVM Configuration Options
204 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
206 The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called `pve`, and additional Logical
207 Volumes (LVs) called `root`, `data`, and `swap`. To control the size of these
212 Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This way you can reserve free space
213 on the hard disk for further partitioning (for example for an additional PV and
214 VG on the same hard disk that can be used for LVM storage).
218 Defines the size of the `swap` volume. The default is the size of the installed
219 memory, minimum 4 GB and maximum 8 GB. The resulting value cannot be greater
222 NOTE: If set to `0`, no `swap` volume will be created.
226 Defines the maximum size of the `root` volume, which stores the operation
227 system. The maximum limit of the `root` volume size is `hdsize/4`.
231 Defines the maximum size of the `data` volume. The actual size of the `data`
234 `datasize = hdsize - rootsize - swapsize - minfree`
236 Where `datasize` cannot be bigger than `maxvz`.
238 NOTE: In case of LVM thin, the `data` pool will only be created if `datasize` is
241 NOTE: If set to `0`, no `data` volume will be created and the storage
242 configuration will be adapted accordingly.
246 Defines the amount of free space left in the LVM volume group `pve`. With more
247 than 128GB storage available the default is 16GB, else `hdsize/8` will be used.
249 NOTE: LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not required for
252 [[advanced_zfs_options]]
253 Advanced ZFS Configuration Options
254 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
255 The installer creates the ZFS pool `rpool`. No swap space is created but you can
256 reserve some unpartitioned space on the install disks for swap. You can also
257 create a swap zvol after the installation, although this can lead to problems.
258 (see <<zfs_swap,ZFS swap notes>>).
262 Defines the `ashift` value for the created pool. The `ashift` needs to be set at
263 least to the sector-size of the underlying disks (2 to the power of `ashift` is
264 the sector-size), or any disk which might be put in the pool (for example the
265 replacement of a defective disk).
269 Defines whether compression is enabled for `rpool`.
273 Defines which checksumming algorithm should be used for `rpool`.
277 Defines the `copies` parameter for `rpool`. Check the `zfs(8)` manpage for the
278 semantics, and why this does not replace redundancy on disk-level.
282 Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This is useful to save free space
283 on the hard disk(s) for further partitioning (for example to create a
284 swap-partition). `hdsize` is only honored for bootable disks, that is only the
285 first disk or mirror for RAID0, RAID1 or RAID10, and all disks in RAID-Z[123].
291 ZFS works best with a lot of memory. If you intend to use ZFS make sure to have
292 enough RAM available for it. A good calculation is 4GB plus 1GB RAM for each TB
295 ZFS can use a dedicated drive as write cache, called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL).
296 Use a fast drive (SSD) for it. It can be added after installation with the
300 # zpool add <pool-name> log </dev/path_to_fast_ssd>
305 Install {pve} on Debian
306 -----------------------
308 {pve} ships as a set of Debian packages and can be installed on top of a standard
310 xref:sysadmin_package_repositories[After configuring the repositories] you need
311 to run the following commands:
315 # apt-get install proxmox-ve
318 Installing on top of an existing Debian installation looks easy, but it presumes
319 that the base system has been installed correctly and that you know how you want
320 to configure and use the local storage. You also need to configure the network
323 In general, this is not trivial, especially when LVM or ZFS is used.
325 A detailed step by step how-to can be found on the
326 {webwiki-url}Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_12_Bookworm[wiki].
336 See the list of all official tutorials on our
337 https://www.youtube.com/proxmoxve[{pve} YouTube Channel]
343 * link:/wiki/Prepare_Installation_Media[Prepare Installation Media]
345 * link:/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_Buster[Install Proxmox VE on Debian Buster]
347 * link:/wiki/System_Requirements[System Requirements]
349 * link:/wiki/Package_Repositories[Package Repositories]
351 * link:/wiki/Host_System_Administration[Host System Administration]
353 * link:/wiki/Network_Configuration[Network Configuration]
355 * link:/wiki/Installation:_Tips_and_Tricks[Installation: Tips and Tricks]