pve-installation.adoc

   1 Installing Proxmox VE
   2 =====================
   3 ifndef::manvolnum[]
   4 :pve-toplevel:
   5 endif::manvolnum[]
   6 ifdef::wiki[]
   7 :title: Installation
   8 endif::wiki[]
   9
  10 {pve} is based on Debian and comes with an installation CD-ROM
  11 which includes a complete Debian system ("stretch" for version 5.x) as
  12 well as all necessary {pve} packages.
  13
  14 The installer just asks you a few questions, then partitions the local
  15 disk(s), installs all required packages, and configures the system
  16 including a basic network setup. You can get a fully functional system
  17 within a few minutes. This is the preferred and recommended
  18 installation method.
  19
  20 Alternatively, {pve} can be installed on top of an existing Debian
  21 system. This option is only recommended for advanced users since
  22 detail knowledge about {pve} is necessary.
  23
  24 ifndef::wiki[]
  25
  26 include::pve-system-requirements.adoc[]
  27
  28 endif::wiki[]
  29
  30
  31 Using the {pve} Installation CD-ROM
  32 -----------------------------------
  33
  34 You can download the ISO from {website}. It includes the
  35 following:
  36
  37 * Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
  38
  39 * The {pve} installer, which partitions the hard drive(s) with ext4,
  40   ext3, xfs or ZFS and installs the operating system.
  41
  42 * {pve} kernel (Linux) with LXC and KVM support
  43
  44 * Complete toolset for administering virtual machines, containers and
  45   all necessary resources
  46
  47 * Web based management interface for using the toolset
  48
  49 NOTE: By default, the complete server is used and all existing data is
  50 removed.
  51
  52 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-grub-menu.png"]
  53
  54 Please insert the installation CD-ROM, then boot from that
  55 drive. Immediately afterwards you can choose the following menu
  56 options:
  57
  58 Install Proxmox VE::
  59
  60 Start normal installation.
  61
  62 TIP: It is possible to only use the keyboard to progress through the
  63 installation wizard. Buttons can be pressed by pressing down the `ALT`
  64 key, combined with the underlined character from the respective Button.
  65 For example, `ALT + N` to press a `Next` button.
  66
  67 Install Proxmox VE (Debug mode)::
  68
  69 Start installation in debug mode. It opens a shell console at several
  70 installation steps, so that you can debug things if something goes
  71 wrong. Please press `CTRL-D` to exit those debug consoles and continue
  72 installation. This option is mostly for developers and not meant for
  73 general use.
  74
  75 Rescue Boot::
  76
  77 This option allows you to boot an existing installation. It searches
  78 all attached hard disks and, if it finds an existing installation,
  79 boots directly into that disk using the existing Linux kernel. This
  80 can be useful if there are problems with the boot block (grub), or the
  81 BIOS is unable to read the boot block from the disk.
  82
  83 Test Memory::
  84
  85 Runs `memtest86+`. This is useful to check if your memory is
  86 functional and error free.
  87
  88 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-select-target-disk.png"]
  89
  90 You normally select *Install Proxmox VE* to start the installation.
  91 After that you get prompted to select the target hard disk(s). The
  92 `Options` button lets you select the target file system, which
  93 defaults to `ext4`. The installer uses LVM if you select `ext3`,
  94 `ext4` or `xfs` as file system, and offers additional option to
  95 restrict LVM space (see <<advanced_lvm_options,below>>)
  96
  97 You can also use ZFS as file system. ZFS supports several software RAID
  98 levels, so this is specially useful if you do not have a hardware RAID
  99 controller. The `Options` button lets you select the ZFS RAID level, and
 100 you can choose disks there. Additionally you can set additional options (see
 101 <<advanced_zfs_options,below>>).
 102
 103 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-select-location.png", float="left"]
 104
 105 The next page just ask for basic configuration options like your
 106 location, the time zone and keyboard layout. The location is used to
 107 select a download server near you to speedup updates. The installer is
 108 usually able to auto detect those setting, so you only need to change
 109 them in rare situations when auto detection fails, or when you want to
 110 use some special keyboard layout not commonly used in your country.
 111
 112 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-set-password.png"]
 113
 114 You then need to specify an email address and the superuser (root)
 115 password. The password must have at least 5 characters, but we highly
 116 recommend to use stronger passwords - here are some guidelines:
 117
 118 - Use a minimum password length of 12 to 14 characters.
 119
 120 - Include lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers and symbols.
 121
 122 - Avoid character repetition, keyboard patterns, dictionary words,
 123   letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names,
 124   romantic links (current or past) and biographical information (e.g.,
 125   ID numbers, ancestors' names or dates).
 126
 127 It is sometimes necessary to send notification to the system
 128 administrator, for example:
 129
 130 - Information about available package updates.
 131
 132 - Error messages from periodic CRON jobs.
 133
 134 All those notification mails will be sent to the specified email
 135 address.
 136
 137 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-setup-network.png"]
 138
 139 The last step is the network configuration. Please note that you can
 140 use either IPv4 or IPv6 here, but not both. If you want to configure a
 141 dual stack node, you can easily do that after installation.
 142
 143 [thumbnail="screenshot/pve-installation.png", float="left"]
 144
 145 If you press `Next` now, installation starts to format disks, and
 146 copies packages to the target. Please wait until that is finished,
 147 then reboot the server.
 148
 149 Further configuration is done via the Proxmox web interface. Just
 150 point your browser to the IP address given during installation
 151 (https://youripaddress:8006).
 152
 153 NOTE: Default login is "root" (realm 'PAM') and the root password is
 154 defined during the installation process.
 155
 156
 157 [[advanced_lvm_options]]
 158 Advanced LVM Configuration Options
 159 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 160
 161 The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called `pve`, and additional
 162 Logical Volumes (LVs) called `root`, `data` and `swap`. The size of
 163 those volumes can be controlled with:
 164
 165 `hdsize`::
 166
 167 Defines the total HD size to be used. This way you can save free
 168 space on the HD for further partitioning (i.e. for an additional PV
 169 and VG on the same hard disk that can be used for LVM storage).
 170
 171 `swapsize`::
 172
 173 Defines the size of the `swap` volume. The default is the size of the
 174 installed memory, minimum 4 GB and maximum 8 GB. The resulting value cannot
 175 be greater than `hdsize/8`.
 176 +
 177 NOTE: If set to `0`, no `swap` volume will be created.
 178
 179 `maxroot`::
 180
 181 Defines the maximum size of the `root` volume, which stores the operation
 182 system. The maximum limit of the `root` volume size is `hdsize/4`.
 183
 184 `maxvz`::
 185
 186 Defines the maximum size of the `data` volume. The actual size of the `data`
 187 volume is:
 188 +
 189 `datasize = hdsize - rootsize - swapsize - minfree`
 190 +
 191 Where `datasize` cannot be bigger than `maxvz`.
 192 +
 193 NOTE: In case of LVM thin, the `data` pool will only be created if `datasize`
 194 is bigger than 4GB.
 195 +
 196 NOTE: If set to `0`, no `data` volume will be created and the storage
 197 configuration will be adapted accordingly.
 198
 199 `minfree`::
 200
 201 Defines the amount of free space left in LVM volume group `pve`.
 202 With more than 128GB storage available the default is 16GB, else `hdsize/8`
 203 will be used.
 204 +
 205 NOTE: LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not
 206 required for lvmthin snapshots).
 207
 208 [[advanced_zfs_options]]
 209 Advanced ZFS Configuration Options
 210 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 211 The installer creates a ZFS pool `rpool`. When selecting ZFS, no swap space is
 212 created by default. You can leave some unpartitioned space for swap or create
 213 a swap zvol after installation, though the latter can lead to problems
 214 (see <<zfs_swap,ZFS swap notes>>).
 215
 216 `ashift`::
 217
 218 Defines the `ashift` value for the created pool. The `ashift` needs
 219 to be set at least to the sector-size of the underlying disks (2 to
 220 the power of `ashift` is the sector-size), or any disk,
 221 which might be put in the pool (e.g. during replacing a defective disk).
 222
 223 `compress`::
 224
 225 Defines whether compression is enabled for `rpool`.
 226
 227 `checksum`::
 228
 229 Defines which checksumming algorithm should be used for `rpool`.
 230
 231 `copies`::
 232
 233 Defines the `copies` parameter for `rpool`. Check the `zfs(8)` manpage for the
 234 semantics, and why this does not replace redundancy on disk-level.
 235
 236 `hdsize`::
 237
 238 Defines the total HD size to be used. This way you can save free
 239 space on the HD for further partitioning (e.g. for creating a swap-partition).
 240
 241
 242 ZFS Performance Tips
 243 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 244
 245 ZFS uses a lot of memory, so it is best to add additional RAM if you
 246 want to use ZFS. A good calculation is 4GB plus 1GB RAM for each TB
 247 RAW disk space.
 248
 249 ZFS also provides the feature to use a fast SSD drive as write cache. The
 250 write cache is called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL). You can add that after
 251 installation using the following command:
 252
 253  zpool add <pool-name> log </dev/path_to_fast_ssd>
 254
 255
 256 ifdef::wiki[]
 257
 258 link:/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_Stretch[Install Proxmox VE on Debian Stretch]
 259 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 260
 261 link:/wiki/Install_from_USB_Stick[Install from USB Stick]
 262 ---------------------------------------------------------
 263
 264 endif::wiki[]
 265
 266 ifndef::wiki[]
 267
 268 Install {pve} on Debian
 269 -----------------------
 270
 271 {pve} ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can install it
 272 on top of a normal Debian installation. After configuring the
 273 repositories, you need to run:
 274
 275 [source,bash]
 276 ----
 277 apt-get update
 278 apt-get install proxmox-ve
 279 ----
 280
 281 Installing on top of an existing Debian installation looks easy, but
 282 it presumes that you have correctly installed the base system, and you
 283 know how you want to configure and use the local storage. Network
 284 configuration is also completely up to you.
 285
 286 In general, this is not trivial, especially when you use LVM or
 287 ZFS.
 288
 289 You can find a detailed step by step howto on the
 290 {webwiki-url}Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_Stretch[wiki].
 291
 292 include::pve-usbstick.adoc[]
 293
 294 endif::wiki[]
 295
 296 ifdef::wiki[]
 297
 298 Video Tutorials
 299 ---------------
 300
 301 * List of all official tutorials on our
 302   http://www.youtube.com/proxmoxve[Proxmox VE YouTube Channel]
 303
 304 * Tutorials in Spanish language on
 305   http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUULBIhA5QDBdNf1pcTZ5UXhek63Fij8z[ITexperts.es
 306   YouTube Play List]
 307
 308
 309 See Also
 310 --------
 311
 312 * link:/wiki/System_Requirements[System Requirements]
 313
 314 * link:/wiki/Package_Repositories[Package Repositories]
 315
 316 * link:/wiki/Host_System_Administration[Host System Administration]
 317
 318 * link:/wiki/Network_Configuration[Network Configuration]
 319
 320 * link:/wiki/Installation:_Tips_and_Tricks[Installation: Tips and Tricks]
 321
 322 endif::wiki[]