Proxmox Hands-On Masterclass - From Beginner to Expert

Learn the basics of Proxmox VE, including installation from official ISO, graphical installer, updates via web interface or command line, and creating Linux and Windows VMs alongside Linux containers.

Install proxmox ve from the official iso, create a bootable usb, and run the graphical installer. Access the web interface at ip:8006 via https to manage proxmox as root.

Update your proxmox server via the web interface or CLI. Enable no-subscription repositories when enterprise sources require a subscription, then run apt update and upgrade, and reboot after kernel updates.

Upload or download ISO images into the Proxmox local storage via the web interface. Upload a chosen Ubuntu 22.04 server installer to make it available for assigning to virtual machines.

activate dark mode in the Proxmox web interface by selecting color theme in the top-right user menu and confirming, with the auto option available to suit the Proxmox community's request.

Create a linux virtual machine in Proxmox using the wizard. Attach the Ubuntu iso, tailor cpu, ram, and storage, and install the Qemu guest agent.

Learn to create a Windows 11 VM in Proxmox with TPM emulation, Virtio drivers, and a Virtio SCSI disk for optimal performance.

Navigate the Proxmox web interface from the data center to host levels, manage backups, users, clusters, VMs and containers, and monitor resources, logs, and live syslog.

Learn to create Linux containers (LXC) in Proxmox via the web interface, using templates, configuring resources and networking, and enabling security options like unprivileged containers and nesting.

Create a new VM in Proxmox VE, install a guest operating system such as Debian, boot it successfully, and enable the QEMU guest agent for reliable host-guest communication.

Install Proxmox VE with the graphical iso installer, connect to the web interface on port 8006, and create virtual machines or Linux containers with virtio and uefi.

Discover Proxmox ve backup and snapshot features, install and use Proxmox backup server, back up containers and virtual machines from web interface, and automate with backup jobs and retention policies.

Learn to create and schedule backups of virtual machines and containers in Proxmox VE, and restore them via the web interface; consider Proxmox backup server with deduplication and encryption.

Create reliable backups of containers and virtual machines in Proxmox VE using the integrated backup tab, selecting storage and mode (stop, snapshot, suspend), configuring compression and notifications, and performing restores.

Restore Proxmox backups via the web interface: select a backup from the container or VM backup tab, use the restore wizard, choose storage, and adjust settings before starting.

Schedule backups with Proxmox VE’s integrated backup at the data center level, creating jobs for VMs and containers, and configuring timing, retention, compression, and notifications.

Create and restore a Proxmox ve backup to test integrated backup functionality on a Linux container or VM, simulate changes, verify restoration, and delete the test backup.

Learn how to use Proxmox VE's web interface to create and restore snapshots and backups of VMs and containers, preserving ram and disk state for quick rollbacks and tests.

Create a snapshot of a test system in the Proxmox ve web interface, install software, restore to undo changes, and delete to free storage.

Master backups and snapshots in Proxmox VE, compare stop, suspend, and snapshot modes, and learn restore options, scheduling, retention policies, and the upcoming Proxmox Backup Server integration.

Learn to create LXC templates in the web interface, deploy Linux containers via full and linked clones, template VMs, prepare Windows guests, and configure Proxmox VE notifications and storage options.

Master creating and deploying LXC templates in Proxmox by converting containers to templates, ensuring unique machine IDs and MAC addresses, and choosing full or linked clones.

Learn to turn a Windows 11 VM into a Proxmox template, generalize with Sysprep to reassign IDs after cloning, clean up snapshots, and create both complete and linked clones.

Learn how to update linked clones in Proxmox by recreating clones after updating the template or by managing updates on each clone with tools like Ansible, Terraform, or Intune.

Apply vm templates and clones in Proxmox VE by converting an Ubuntu vm to a template, cloning a full clone, starting and testing the new instance, and deleting the template.

Master Proxmox notifications by configuring SMTP or codify, testing email alerts for backups, cluster events, and disk smart values, with data-center level setup.

Explore proxmox storage options from local single-host setups to shared cluster storage, including NFS, iSCSI, and ZFS, with notes on distributed file systems and CLI configuration.

Create a local cfs storage in Proxmox through the web interface, select disks, set a rate level, and enable a mirrored two-disk pool for vm disks and container volumes.

Learn to manage Proxmox networking by creating bridges for management and VM networks, assigning static IPs, and using SDN to define VNets and subnets with secure segmentation.

Perform a major upgrade of proxmox from 7 to 8 using the pv 7 to 8 script, update debian to bookworm, and follow backup, stop running systems, and reboot steps.

Configure an NFS kernel server on a proxmox host to export a zfs dataset via nfs for read-write access, then mount on vms.

Create linux container and vm templates, prepare linux and windows guests, and manage full or linked clones, updates, notifications, storage, networking, and upgrades in Proxmox VE.

Explore migration options from VMware ESXi to Proxmox, including the Proxmox VE integrated wizard, ovf templates, and Clonezilla imaging. See live demos and automation strategies for migrating many VMs.

Migrate virtual machines from VMware ESXi using Proxmox VE's integrated wizard in the web interface, add storage, and import VMs.

Import a Windows virtual machine into Proxmox using the integrated wizard, from ESXi storage, with auto-detected OS, and configurable hardware, network, and storage settings.

Migrate a virtual machine from vmware esxi to proxmox ve using the ovf export tool, then import it on proxmox with qm, preserving ram, cpu, and disk settings.

Explore scripts for migrating virtual machines from VMware to Proxmox using the OVF tool, including interactive prompts for VLAN ID and storage type.

Migrate vms from VMware ESXi to Proxmox using the import wizard with iSCSI storage, including host connection details and parameter mapping; learn manual OVF/QM migrations for Linux, Windows, and UEFI.

Learn to automate Proxmox ve with the Proxmox Container Toolkit and QM for containers and VMs, including cloning templates, configuring via set commands, and using the API and Ansible playbooks.

Experiment with the Proxmox container toolkit (pcd) to create, clone, and manage LXC containers from templates, exploring local and LVM storage via command line and web interface.

Master the qm command to manage QEMU/KVM virtual machines from the command line, clone (linked or full), start, shutdown, and destroy VMs, list them, and explore scripting for automation.

Explore the Proxmox rest API and JSON data format, authenticate with ticket cookies or API tokens, and automate container creation via curl and infrastructure as code libraries.

Explore how to administer proxmox ve via the pvesh shell interface over ssh, using get, set, and create commands to manage vms and linux containers through the api.

Master Proxmox VE CLI tools by creating, starting, stopping, and deleting a Linux container via SSH, and managing snapshots with the Proxmox container toolkit using the Ubuntu 24.04 template.

Automate Proxmox tasks with Ansible using YAML playbooks, covering container creation and deletion, network and configuration updates, and extending to VM provisioning across Linux, Windows, and network devices.

Automate Proxmox VE tasks using the container toolkit and qm, deploy and clone Linux containers and VMs from templates, modify hardware, and explore rest api and Ansible for automation.

Learn to use Terraform, as an infrastructure as code tool, to build, change, and automate Proxmox resources with community providers, including cloning VMs via HCL in a VSCode dev environment.

Install Visual Studio Code and Terraform, add the HashiCorp repository, and install the Terraform extension for syntax highlighting and auto-completion, then create a test file to verify the Proxmox setup.

Configure Proxmox VE API token authentication by creating a dedicated Terraform user and role, granting least privileges, and generating a token for Terraform automation via web or CLI.

Automate Linux container deployment on Proxmox VE with Terraform by configuring the Proxmox provider, writing main.tf, and running init, validate, plan, and apply to provision Ubuntu 22.04 containers.

Learn how to deprovision Proxmox resources with Terraform destroy, removing containers and networking defined in configuration files, and reapply with Terraform to recreate infrastructure as defined, with state file tracking.

Learn how the Terraform state file stores state as JSON, tracks resources, and updates via apply, refresh, and destroy; also note backup creation and securing sensitive data.

Apply Terraform to extend Proxmox VE deployments by adding a Debian container alongside Ubuntu, configuring Debian image download, duplicating resources, and running init, plan, and apply to create both containers.

Refactor the Terraform configuration by introducing locals and container-specific variables, and use for_each loops to reduce duplication. Validate and apply changes to Ubuntu and Debian containers, enhancing readability and maintainability.

Split your Terraform configuration into multiple files to improve readability and maintenance, using variables, locals, outputs, and automatic file loading, while keeping provider blocks and resources intact.

Format terraform configuration files automatically with a single command using terraform fmt, ensuring canonical style and indentation. Explore options like -check, -diff, -recursive, and pre-commit hooks to enforce consistent formatting.

Explore using Terraform with the Proxmox provider to deploy and manage infrastructure as code, including VS Code setup, API token authentication, and core commands like init, plan, apply, and destroy.

Learn to build a Proxmox VE multi-node cluster for high availability and scalability, manage via the web interface, enable migrations, ensure quorum with a queue device, and safe storage pool.

Create a three-node Proxmox VE cluster in the web interface, then join each host with encoded join information; Corosync handles cluster management and failover across the data center network.

Learn to build a Ceph cluster for Proxmox storage by turning local disks into a shared, replicated pool for vm disks and container volumes, with monitors and osds.

Explore creating VMs on the Xev storage in a Proxmox VE cluster and migrate them between nodes—offline and live—leveraging Zpool replication and storage cloning.

Simulate a node failure in a Proxmox VE cluster, observe automatic VM migration to another host, and configure high availability with restart and relocate settings to minimize downtime.

Achieve a full quorum in a Proxmox cluster by using an odd number of nodes or a queue device. Ensure safe high availability for VMs and containers with cost-efficient options.

Configure a Q device to achieve absolute majority in a two-node Proxmox cluster by adding a Corosync vote on an external device.

Proxmox VE cannot live migrate Linux containers; they use restart mode with downtime, while virtual machines can live migrate, suggesting load balancers for high availability.

Learn to initialize a three-node Proxmox VE cluster, join nodes, and manage Ceph storage with monitors, mgr, and osds for high availability and live migrations.

Explore Proxmox backup server with incremental backups, deduplication, compression, and VE integration. Learn installation options, scheduling, retention, verification, pruning, garbage collection, sync, and using the Proxmox backup client.

Install Proxmox backup server via the official ISO for a standalone installation, using graphical or CLI installers, configure network and root credentials, and access the web interface at port 8007.

Learn how to install Proxmox backup server on the same hardware as Proxmox VE, not recommended for production, using no-subscription repositories, apt install, and accessing the interface on port 8007.

Set up a data store in Proxmox Backup Server, link it to Proxmox VE, and back up VMs and Linux containers using stop mode with compression and deduplication.

Create backups of VMs or containers with Proxmox backup server, schedule regular jobs, configure retention policies, and verify manual backups via the web interfaces.

Restore complete containers or VMs and perform file-level restores from Proxmox backup server via the web interface, including live restore to reduce downtime and downloading files or directories as zip.

Practice restoring a Linux container backup on Proxmox backup server by verifying the backup, simulating changes, performing a restore (file-level or full system), and confirming changes are undone.

Configure automated backups with the proxmox backup scheduler, selecting storage, scheduling times, and notifications; choose VMs, retention, and backup mode, then run, verify, and restore if needed.

Master verifying backups with Proxmox backup server through manual checks and scheduled verify jobs. Configure schedules, automatic skipping of verified backups, and notifications for verification results in production environments.

Configure pruning and garbage collection in Proxmox backup server to automatically remove old backups and free disk space using retention policies and maintenance tasks.

Configure and synchronize backups across multiple Proxmox backup servers to boost redundancy and availability. Create remote servers, set up pull-mode sync jobs with include/exclude filters and incremental transfers.

Install the Proxmox backup client on Debian or Ubuntu via the apt repository, then create your first backup to a Proxmox backup server and perform a file-level restore.

Showcases Proxmox backup client features: list backups via the command line interface, create encrypted backups with a client-side key, and restore files from a repository on the Proxmox backup server.

Explore advanced backup options in the Proxmox VE web interface, including bandwidth limits, thread and i/o worker settings, fleecing storage, and repeat missed, to optimize i/o performance and backup consistency.

Master Proxmox backup server: use web interface for incremental backups with de-duplication and compression, integrate with Proxmox VE, configure storage and backup jobs, and perform restores for VMs and containers.

Learn to use Proxmox VE helper scripts to deploy Linux containers with Docker or Podman pre-installed, manage containers via Portainer, and automate VM setup with cloud-init.

Deploy systems and services in Linux containers and VMs with Proxmox VE helper scripts in a single command, including Docker, Portainer, and Docker Compose.

Learn to run Docker containers inside a Linux container on a Proxmox VE host, manage them via CLI and Portainer, configure port forwarding, and deploy images like Nginx and MariaDB.

Automate Proxmox VE VM provisioning with cloud init, configuring hostname, root password, SSH public keys, and network and DNS settings directly from the web interface.

In Proxmox VE, prevent network interface name changes after kernel upgrades by creating a systemd network file to bind a fixed name to the MAC address, update /etc/network/interfaces, and reboot.

Deploy a service with the Proxmox VE helper scripts to run cockpit in a container. Explore the GitHub repository, verify scripts before running, and customize settings for a fast deployment.

Apply practical Proxmox tips using helper scripts to deploy Linux containers with Docker, Portainer, and Docker Compose. Automate VM setup with cloud-init and create reusable templates.