How To Install Proxmox VE 6 on Debian 10 (Buster)

In this guide, we will discuss the installation of Proxmox VE 6 server on Debian 10 (Buster) Linux system. The recommended and supported Proxmox VE server installation is usually done via Bare-metal_ISO_Installer, but there are scenarios where it makes sense to install on a running Debian Server.

Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) is an enterprise-grade open-source server virtualization solution based on Debian Linux distribution with a modified Ubuntu LTS kernel. It allows you to deploy and manage both virtual machines and containers.

This setup presumes you have a running Debian 10 Buster Linux server running. If you don’t have one, follow our guide to Install Debian 10 on a dedicated server that will be used as a hypervisor. Please note that you need a 64-bit processor with support for the Intel 64 or AMD64 CPU extensions.

Below are the steps you’ll follow through to install Proxmox VE 6 on Debian 10 (Buster) Server.

For Proxmox VE 7, check out: How To Install Proxmox VE 7 on Debian 11 (Bullseye)

Step 1: Update Debian OS

Update apt package index before getting started.

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo reboot

Step 2: Set system hostname

We need to set the hostname and make sure it is resolvable via /etc/hosts.

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname proxmox6node01.example.com --static

example.com should be replaced with a valid domain name.

$ ip ad
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether da:f6:59:66:ed:ea brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.116.0.2/20 brd 10.116.15.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::d8f6:59ff:fe66:edea/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Then update the record on /etc/hosts file with hostname and matching IP address for local resolution without DNS server.

$ sudo vim /etc/hosts
10.116.0.2 proxmox6node01.example.com proxmox6node01

Test if it is okay

$ hostname --ip-address
10.116.0.2

Step 3: Add the Proxmox VE repository

All Proxmox packages will be pulled from matching upstream repository which is added manually to the system. Here we’ll add the Proxmox VE No-Subscription Repository.

Import GPG key:

### Using  apt-key  ###
wget -qO - http://download.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

### OR Manually ###
wget http://download.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg
sudo mv proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg
chmod +r /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-ve-release-6.x.gpg

Then add Proxmox VE repository:

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve buster pve-no-subscription" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-install-repo.list

You can now update your repository and system by running:

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade

Adding Proxmox VE Ceph Repository:

This is Proxmox VE’s main Ceph repository and holds the Ceph packages for production use. You can also use this repository to update only the Ceph client.

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-nautilus buster main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list

Step 4: Install Proxmox VE packages

These are the commands executed to install Proxmox VE packages.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install proxmox-ve postfix open-iscsi

If you have a mail server in your network, you should configure postfix as a satellite system, and your existing mail server will be the ‘relay host’ which will route the emails send by the proxmox server to the end recipient. If you don’t know what to enter here, choose local only.

Reboot your Debian system after installation to boot with Proxmox VE kernel.

sudo reboot

Step 5: Accessing Proxmox VE web interface

Connect to the Proxmox VE admin web interface on (https://youripaddress:8006).

Proxmox VE Dashboard looks like this:

Select “PAM Authentication” and authenticate with server’s root user password.

Once logged in, create a Linux Bridge called vmbr0,

And add your first network interface to it.

For Private bridge using NAT check below article:

• Create Private Network Bridge on Proxmox VE 6 with NAT

To change Proxmox VE UI theme see guide below:

• How To Customize Proxmox VE Web UI With dark theme

Visit Proxmox Documentation website for advanced configurations and to master Proxmox VE Administration.