Install ProxMox on Hetzner Dedicated Server

In this short article I want to explain to you an alternative method to install ProxMox on a dedicated server purchased on Hetzner.

Hetzner, I consider him one of the best European providers, does not offer a KVM free on his servers. So the installation phase of an operating system may be limiting, not having a graphical interface.

To install ProxMox I’ve hitherto followed Hetzner official guides, that is, installing a Debian machine, adding ProxMox repositories, and installing packages.

But I’ve always had trouble configuring the FileSystem ZFS, LVM, etc etc.

These aspects are much easier to handle using the official ISO of ProxMox and the GUI that follows you step by step in the installation.

So you can leverage the official ISO and GUI? Yes, it is possible 🙂 follow these steps:

1. Start your machine in rescue mode with Linux 64bit;
2. Connect to your dedicated server via SSH;
   
3. Install QEMU ($ apt-get install qemu);
4. Download ProxMox ISO (Select last ISO image on https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads) and save locally in proxmox.iso file;
5. Start QEMU Emulator ($ qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1024 -k it -hda /dev/sda -hdb /dev/sdb -cdrom proxmox.iso -boot d -vnc :0);
   
6. Connect via VNC to your server port 5900, and follow the installation procedure;
7. Reboot rescue system.

Ok, now the system is installed;) Simple!

Two more tips, Repository and Let’s Encrypt!

ProxMox releases two types of repository, free and paid. If you want to use the free ones you have to change the source list.

Open the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-install-repo.list and remove or edit the content that should be:

deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian jessie pve-no-subscription

Currently, debian main distribution is Jessie, when it’s updated (es. Stretch), you’ll need to refresh the indication.

Finally I recommend using a valid SSL certificate to connect to the ProxMox Web GUI, on official wiki site there is a great guide!