Deploy Proxmox on a HomeLab Node

Install, harden, and prepare a Proxmox VE hypervisor with sane defaults for VMs and future growth.

Install + Baseline

Burn the latest Proxmox ISO, boot from USB, and select ZFS mirror if you have two similar SSDs (or ext4 on a single drive). Set a static IP and hostname like pve01.lab.local.

Enable virtualization + IOMMU in BIOS; disable boot noise like RGB controllers.
Time sync on, correct timezone, and strong root password with email for alerts.
Post-install: `apt update && apt dist-upgrade` and switch to the no-subscription repo.

Quick Inventory

CPU: VT-x/AMD-V on
Memory: ECC preferred; memtest recent
Storage: note serials/slots for pool mapping
Networking: management VLAN IP reserved

Hardening + Networking

Create a non-root admin user with sudo, add SSH keys, and disable password auth. Enable the Proxmox firewall with input default DROP; allow only SSH 22, web UI 8006, and NTP/DNS as needed.

Bridge vmbr0 to LAN; tag VLANs on trunks.
Optionally add vmbr1 for storage (NFS/iSCSI) to keep replication clean.
Configure email alerts and backup to remote storage (NFS/rsync/restic).

Quality of Life

Upload ISO and build a golden VM template (cloud-init ready).
Enable thin provisioning on local-lvm unless you require thick.
Snapshot schedule on critical VMs; test restore monthly.
Tag nodes with purpose/role so you know what to drain later.

First Services to Create

Utility VM

Small Debian/Ubuntu VM with curl, htop, and ssh for quick tests.

2 vCPU • 2-4 GB • 20 GB disk

Logging/Monitoring

Vector or Loki agent to ship logs; node exporter for metrics.

1-2 vCPU • 2 GB • 10-20 GB

Template Lab

Keep a small template pool to clone quickly; snapshot before experiments.

vCPU/RAM minimal; snapshots on