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XDA's Latest Proxmox Articles
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XDA ☛ I upgraded to Proxmox 9 - here's how it went
The latest version of Debian 13 is upon us, bringing with it many security patches and software updates. But if you’re as deeply integrated into the server landscape as I am, you’re probably excited about the updates added to another platform that relies on Debian. I’m talking about Proxmox, a FOSS virtualization environment that’s easily one of (if not the) best platforms for deploying containers and virtual machines on local hardware.
For those out of the loop, Proxmox 9 was released earlier this week. While the shift to Debian 13 is the standout feature of the platform, the updated version of Proxmox includes a couple of noteworthy additions. Now that I’ve installed Proxmox 9 in my primary workstation, here’s a detailed log of all the steps I took, errors I solved, and new features I encountered in the latest version of the platform.
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XDA ☛ 4 reasons Cloud-Init is the best Proxmox feature you're not using
If you're using Proxmox to run virtual machines, you've probably seen the Cloud-Init tab and just ignored it. I did the same for a long time. It sounds like one of those things made for enterprise use or huge cloud deployments, not something for someone spinning up a few VMs at home. But once I gave it a shot, it quickly became one of the first things I set up after installing Proxmox.
It’s a tool that automates the setup of your virtual machines when they boot up for the first time. You feed it a configuration file, and it takes care of everything: setting hostnames, creating user accounts, injecting SSH keys, assigning IP addresses, and much more. It's widely used in cloud platforms like AWS and Azure, but it works just as well in Proxmox with a few clicks.
In Proxmox, using Cloud-Init is surprisingly simple. You create a template VM with a supported OS (Ubuntu Server works great), and you'll get a dedicated Cloud-Init tab where you can enter things like the default username, password, SSH key, and IP config. Once you hit start, the VM boots up with everything already in place, and it's great for a number of reasons.
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XDA ☛ Every advanced Proxmox user should know these 6 CLI tools
Unlike VirtualBox, VMware Workstation Pro, and other Type-2 hypervisors, you’ll typically set up virtualization platforms on a bare-metal system and use web UIs to access them from another device over a local network. Modern virtualization platforms like Proxmox have surprisingly robust web interfaces, to the point where you can essentially deploy all your server projects from their menu-driven UIs without ever using the terminal or an SSH connection to execute commands.
That said, once you start tinkering with complex workloads involving multiple virtual guests deployed across a plethora of clusters, the barrage of menus inside the web UI starts to become ineffective for managing everything. That’s your cue to start using terminal commands, especially the ones involving these neat CLI utilities.
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XDA ☛ 7 mistakes you should avoid when first setting up Proxmox
Running a home lab is a fun and rewarding project that can enable all kinds of experiences in your home, and Proxmox is arguably the best way to do it, being a lightweight virtual environment that can run multiple services. I'm currently using it to host my own NAS alongside Home Assistant, and that's a fairly small project all things considered.
Admittedly, I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to Proxmox, which means I've made my fair share of mistakes when trying to set it up. And if you're thinking of getting started with it too, you might also have the same risk. So, before you get started, here are a few things you should be wary of to avoid making your experience more difficult than it needs to be.