Proxmox tips and tricks – geekstation.nl

Once Proxmox is running, you keep running into the same questions. These are the tips that prevent the most hassle, from security to smart shortcuts.

1. Keep your server secure

Never expose the management page (port 8006) to the internet. Anyone who can access it controls your entire server. Use a VPN, like WireGuard or Tailscale. See our port list for the rest of the ports.
Enable two-factor authentication at Datacenter → Permissions → Two Factor.
Create your own user (Permissions → Users) with the permissions you need, and use root only for management.
Update Proxmox regularly and read the update guide.

2. Community helper scripts

For many programs (like Pi-hole, Jellyfin, Home Assistant, Nginx Proxy Manager) ready-made installation scripts exist. The best-known collection can be found at community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE. You run such a script in the Shell of your server and it creates the container itself.

Be careful: such a script runs as root on your server. Read the script first, or check the page for what it does, and only use trusted sources.

3. Templates and copies

Do you have a VM you want to reuse as a base? Set it up, finish it and choose Convert to template. A Full Clone of it is a completely separate copy; a Linked Clone shares disk space and is ready faster, but depends on the template.

4. Make things start automatically

Turn on Options → Start at boot for everything that needs to start after a power outage. Under Start/Shutdown order you determine the sequence, for example first your router VM and then the rest. If you have an uninterruptible power supply, check how long it keeps your server running with our UPS runtime tool.

5. Network: VLANs

Want to separate devices, for example smart devices, guests and your own computers? At System → Network → vmbr0 → Edit turn on VLAN aware. You can then set a VLAN Tag per virtual network card. Your switch and router must support this. Calculate the networks with our subnet splitter.

6. Pass through USB devices

A Zigbee dongle or printer for a VM? Open the VM, choose Hardware → Add → USB Device and select the device. Passing through PCI cards, like a video card, is also possible, but requires more preparation (enabling IOMMU in the BIOS and the boot settings).

7. Keep an eye on your disks

At Server → Disks you see the health (SMART) of your disks. A disk that’s failing is often noticeable in advance. Enable restore after power failure in the BIOS and consider a mirror of two disks if the data is important.

8. Useful commands in the Shell

pveversion          # which Proxmox version is running
qm list             # all virtual machines
pct list            # all containers
qm start 100        # start VM 100
qm shutdown 100     # shut down VM 100 cleanly
pct enter 101       # open terminal of container 101

9. Give a new IP address or different name

Is your server moving to a different network? Adjust the address in /etc/network/interfaces (at the vmbr0 line) and make sure /etc/hosts has the new address next to the server name. Then restart the server. Only do this with a screen and keyboard at hand: if you make a mistake, you’ll lose remote access to the server.

10. Notifications for problems

Set up at Datacenter → Notifications that you get a notification if a backup fails. That way you notice a problem before you need the backup.