Proxmox VE turns a dedicated server into your own small cloud: you install it like an operating system, split the machine into virtual machines and containers and manage everything via a web interface. On a FameSystems dedicated server this is the most common use case because the entire hardware belongs to you.
What Proxmox VE is
Proxmox VE is a free virtualisation platform based on Debian. It combines KVM for complete virtual machines and LXC for lightweight containers under a shared web interface. Snapshots, backups, network bridges and storage management are built in. In short: the same technology hosters use to run their root servers and vServers, only on your own machine.
Requirements
- A dedicated server, because Proxmox needs direct access to the CPU virtualisation features. On a root server, which is itself a VM, this does not make sense.
- Enough memory: add up all planned VMs plus 2 GB for Proxmox itself.
- NVMe storage, because many VMs read and write at the same time.
- An additional IP address or an internal network with NAT, depending on whether VMs should be reachable from outside.
Installation in five steps
The installation takes about 15 minutes. You need the console from the FameSystems web interface to start the installation medium.
- Select the Proxmox VE ISO as installation medium and restart the server.
- Choose the target disk. With two NVMe drives, ZFS in a mirror is recommended so that a drive failure costs no data.
- Enter the network: the server's main IP, gateway and a hostname.
- After the reboot, open the web interface at https://your-ip:8006.
- Enable the firewall in Proxmox and restrict access to port 8006 to your IP address.
Network: making VMs reachable
The simplest way is an internal network: Proxmox creates a bridge, the VMs get private addresses, and you forward individual ports to the outside via NAT. If VMs should have their own public IP, book additional addresses and assign them directly to the VMs. For a community setup with game server, TeamSpeak and website, the internal variant with port forwarding is usually enough.
Backups and snapshots
Proxmox backs up VMs and containers on a schedule as complete images. Set the backup target to external storage, such as FameSystems cloud storage via SMB or NFS, not on the same machine. Snapshots are suitable for quick rollbacks before updates, but do not replace a backup.
AMD Ryzen 7000 dedicated server
The entire machine for you: high clock speed, NVMe, 2× 10 Gbit/s. Ideal as a Proxmox host for game servers, TeamSpeak and web projects.