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Proxmox Virtualization Platform

Proxmox VE is the core virtualization platform powering this homelab. The 4-node cluster provides enterprise-grade capabilities for running virtual machines and containers with high availability, live migration, and centralized management.

Cluster Configuration

Hardware Setup

  • 4 Proxmox Nodes – Distributed compute resources with HA capabilities
  • Shared Storage – iSCSI/NFS from TrueNAS Scale for VM storage
  • Dedicated Management Network – Isolated VLAN for Proxmox cluster communication
  • High Availability – Automatic VM migration on node failure

Key Features

KVM Virtual Machines

  • Full hardware virtualization for any OS (Windows, Linux, BSD)
  • QEMU guest agent for better integration
  • PCI passthrough support for GPUs and hardware
  • Live migration between nodes with zero downtime

LXC Containers

  • Lightweight containerization for Linux services
  • Faster deployment and lower overhead than VMs
  • Shared kernel for efficiency
  • Ideal for single-purpose services (DNS, web servers, databases)

Cluster Management

  • Centralized web interface across all nodes
  • Resource pools for organizing workloads
  • User/permission management with role-based access
  • API access for automation and scripting

Workload Distribution

Production Services

  • Infrastructure VMs – TrueNAS, pfSense/networking, DNS servers
  • Application Containers – Docker hosts, databases, web services
  • Monitoring Stack – Checkmk, Graylog, Netdata instances

Development & Testing

  • Test Environments – Sandbox VMs for experimentation
  • CI/CD Runners – Azure DevOps agents for pipeline execution
  • Kubernetes Nodes – K3s cluster for container orchestration

Backup Integration

Proxmox Backup Server

  • Cluster-wide VM and container backups
  • Deduplication and compression for space efficiency
  • Incremental backups with retention policies
  • Fast restoration and granular file recovery

Snapshot Strategy

# Automated pre-update snapshots
vzdump --mode snapshot --compress zstd --storage pbs-backup

Storage Configuration

Local Storage

  • local – ISO images and container templates
  • local-lvm – VM disk storage on local drives

Shared Storage

  • truenas-iscsi – iSCSI LUNs for VM disks with HA
  • truenas-nfs – NFS shares for backups and bulk storage

Network Configuration

Bridge Setup

  • vmbr0 – Primary network bridge for VMs/containers
  • vmbr1 – Storage network (iSCSI traffic)
  • vmbr2 – Management network (isolated)

VLAN Support

VMs and containers can be assigned to specific VLANs for network segmentation: - VLAN 10: Management - VLAN 20: Servers - VLAN 30: IoT devices - VLAN 99: Guest network

Automation & API

Terraform Integration

resource "proxmox_vm_qemu" "web_server" {
  name        = "web-01"
  target_node = "pve-node-1"
  clone       = "ubuntu-22.04-template"
  cores       = 2
  memory      = 4096
}

Ansible Playbooks

Automated VM provisioning, configuration, and updates via Ansible dynamic inventory.

Monitoring

  • Built-in Metrics – CPU, RAM, storage, network graphs per VM/node
  • Checkmk Integration – Advanced monitoring with alerting
  • Log Forwarding – Syslog to Graylog for centralized analysis

Best Practices

  1. Template-Based Deployment – Create cloud-init templates for rapid provisioning
  2. Regular Backups – Daily automated backups to Proxmox Backup Server
  3. Resource Limits – Set CPU/memory limits to prevent resource contention
  4. Cluster Communication – Keep cluster network isolated and redundant
  5. Update Strategy – Stagger node updates to maintain cluster availability

Resources