12 KiB
Proxmox
guide-by-example
Purpose
Type 1 hypervisor hosting virtual machines, running straight on metal, managed through web GUI.
Proxmox uses qemu as a virtual machines emulator, with KVM kernel module.
Written in perl, javascript for webGUI and C for filesystem.
Installation
Download iso, ventoy usb, boot it, click through.
Basic settings
- post install scripts, main one includes option to disable subscription nagscreen
https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/ - one way to go for single disk storage:
- lvremove /dev/pve/data
- lvresize -l +100%FREE /dev/pve/root
- resize2fs /dev/mapper/pve-root
- afterwards Datacenter > Storage > local > Edit > Content
enable everything - remove LVM-thin remnant
New Virtual Machine notes
- qemu-guest-agent
- install, on archlinux its a static service, so no enabling
to test if it works, ssh into hypervisor andqm anget 100 ping
- install, on archlinux its a static service, so no enabling
Interface
- Right top corner > user name
- Auto-refresh=60
- Settings, turn off everything - statistics, recent only, welcome message, visual effects
NTP time sync
- Host > Manage > System > Time & date > Edit NTP Settings
- Use Network Time Protocol (enable NTP client)
- Start and stop with host
pool.ntp.org
- Host > Manage > Services > search for ntpd > Start
Hostname and domain
- ssh in
esxcli system hostname set --host esxi-2023
- if domain on network
esxcli system hostname set --domain example.local
Network
Should just work, but if there is more complex setup,
like if a VM serves as a firewall...
Be sure you ssh in and try to ping google.com
to see if network and DNS work.
To check and set the default gateway
esxcfg-route
esxcfg-route 10.65.26.25
esxcli network ip dns server list
esxcli network ip dns server add --server=8.8.8.8
esxcli network ip dns server remove --server=1.1.1.1
esxcli network ip dns server list
To disable ipv6
esxcli network ip set --ipv6-enabled=false
Logs
Host > Monitor > Logs
The one worth knowing about
- shell.log - History of shell commands when SSH in
- syslog.log - General info of what's happening on the system.
- vmkernel.log - Activities of esxi and VMs
Will update with some actual use, when I use logs.
Logs from systems in VMs are in >Virtual Machines > Name-of-VM > Monitor > Logs
Backups using ghettoVCB
The script makes snapshot of a VM, copies the "old" vmdk and other files
to a backup location, then deletes the snapshot.
This approach, where backup in time is full backup takes up a lot of space.
Some form of deduplication might be a solution.
VMs that have any existing snapshot wont get backed up.
Files that are backed up:
- vmdk - virtual disk file, every virtual disk has a separate file.
In webgui datastore browser only one vmdk file is seen per disk,
but on filesystem theres
blabla.vmdk
andblablka-flat.vmdk
. Theflat
one is where the data actually are, the other one is a descriptor file. - nvram - bios settings of a VM
- vmx - virtual machine settings, can be edited
Backup storage locations
- Local disk datastore
- NFS share
For nfs share on trueNAS scale- Maproot User -> root
- Maproot Group -> nogroup
Note the exact path from webgui of your datastore for backups.
Looks like this /vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090
Install
- Download the repo files on a pc from which you would upload them on to esxi
- create a directory on a datastore where the script and configs will reside
/vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/ghetto_script
- upload the files, should be 6, can skip
build
directory andreadme.md
- ssh in to esxi
- cd in to the datastore ghetto directory
- make all the shell files executable
chmod +x ./*.sh
Config and preparation
Gotta know basics how to edit files with ancient vi
- cd in to the datastore ghetto directory
cp ./ghettoVCB.conf ./ghetto_1.conf
- Only edit this file, for starter setting where to copy backups
vi ./ghetto_1.conf
VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/Backups
- Create a file that will contain list of VMs to backup
touch ./vms_to_backup_list
vi ./vms_to_backup_list
OPNsense Arch-Docker-Host
- Create a shell script that starts ghetto script using this config for listed VMs
touch ./ghetto_run.sh
vi ./ghetto_run.sh
Make the script executable#!/bin/sh GHETTO_DIR=/vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/ghetto_script $GHETTO_DIR/ghettoVCB.sh \ -g $GHETTO_DIR/ghetto_1.conf \ -f $GHETTO_DIR/vms_to_backup_list \ &> /dev/null
chmod +x ./ghetto_run.sh
- for my use case where TrueNAS VM cant be snapshoted while running because of a passthrough pcie HBA card there needs to be another config
- Make new config copy
cp ./ghetto_1.conf ./ghetto_2.conf
- Edit the config, setting it to shut down VMs before backup.
vi ./ghetto_2.conf
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=1
- edit the run script, add another execution for specific VM using ghetto_2.conf
vi ./ghetto_run.sh
#!/bin/sh GHETTO_DIR=/vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/ghetto_script $GHETTO_DIR/ghettoVCB.sh \ -g $GHETTO_DIR/ghetto_1.conf \ -f $GHETTO_DIR/vms_to_backup_list \ &> /dev/null $GHETTO_DIR/ghettoVCB.sh \ -g $GHETTO_DIR/ghetto_2.conf \ -m TrueNAS_scale \ &> /dev/null
To one time manually execute:
./ghetto_run.sh
Scheduled runs
See "Cronjob FAQ" in documentation
To execute it periodicly cron is used. But theres an issue of cronjob being lost on esxi restart, which require few extra steps to solve.
- Make backup of roots crontab
cp /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ghetto_script/root_cron.backup
- Edit roots crontab to execute the run script at 4:00
add the following line at the end in cron format
vi /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
To save read only file in vi use0 4 * * * /vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/ghetto_script/ghetto_run.sh
:wq!
- restart cron service
kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
crond
To make the cronjob permanent
- Make backup of local.sh file
cp /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ghetto_script/local.sh.backup
- Edit
etc/rc.local.d/local.sh
file, adding the following lines at the end, but before theexit 0
line. Replace the part in quotes in the echo line with your cronjob line.
vi /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh
ESXi host must have disabled secure boot for local.sh to execute./bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid) > /dev/null 2>&1 /bin/echo "0 4 * * * /vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/ghetto_script/ghetto_run.sh" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root /bin/crond
- Run esxi config backup for change to be saved
/sbin/auto-backup.sh
- Restart host, check if the cronjob is still there and if cron is running,
and check if the date is correct
vi /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
ps | grep crond | grep -v grep
date
Logs about backups are in /tmp
Restore from backup
- In webgui create a full path where to restore the VM
- The restore-config-template-file is in the ghetto_script directory on datastore
namedghettoVCB-restore_vm_restore_configuration_template
Make copy of it
cp ./ghettoVCB-restore_vm_restore_configuration_template ./vms_to_restore_list
- Edit this file, adding new line, in which separated by
;
are:- path to the backup, the directory has date in name
- path where to restore this backup
- disk type - 1=thick | 2=2gbsparse | 3=thin | 4=eagerzeroedthick
- optional - new name of the VM
vi ./vms_to_restore_list
"/vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/Backups/OPNsense/OPNsense-2023-04-16_04-00-00;/vmfs/volumes/6378107d-b71bee00-873d-b42e99f40944/OPNsense_restored;3;OPNsense-restored"
- Execute the restore script with the config given as a parameter.
./ghettoVCB-restore.sh -c ./vms_to_restore_list
- Register the restored VM.
If it's in the same location as the original was, it should just go through. If the location is different, then esxi asks if it was moved or copied.- Copied - You are planning to use both VMs at the same time, selecting this option generates new UUID for the VM, new MAC address, maybe some other hardware identifiers as well.
- Moved - All old settings are kept, for restoring backups this is usually the correct choice.
Switching from Thick to Thin disks
Kinda issue is that vmdk are actually two files.
Small plain .vmdk
that holds some info, and the flat.vmdk
with actual
gigabytes of data of the disk. In webgui this fact is hidden.
- have backups
- down the VM
- unregister the VM
- ssh in
- navigate to where its vmdk files are in datastore
cd /vmfs/volumes/6187f7e1-c584077c-d7f6-3c4937073090/linux/
- execute command that converts the vmdk
vmkfstools -i "./linux.vmdk" -d thin "./linux-thin.vmdk"
- zeropunch the image file, so that unused blocks are properly zeroed.
vmkfstools --punchzero "./linux-thin.vmdk"
- remove or move both original files
rm linux.vmdk
rm linux-flat.vmdk
- In webgui navigate to the datastore.
Use
move
command to rename thin version to the original name.
This changes the values inlinux.vmdk
to point to correctflat.vmdk
- register the VM back to esxi gui.
Disk space reclamation
If you run VMs with thin disks, the idea is that it uses only as much space as is needed. But if you copy 50GB file to a VM, then deletes it, it's not always seamless that the VMDK shrinks by 50GB too.
Correctly functioning reclamation can save time and space for backups.
- Modern windows should just work, did just one test with win10.
- linux machines need fstrim run that marks blocks as empty.
- Unix machine, like opnsense based on FreeBSD needed to be started from ISO,
so that partition is not mounted and executed
fsck_ufs -Ey /dev/da0p3
afterwards it needed one more run of vmkfstools --punchzero "./OPNsense.vmdk"
And it still uses roughly twice as much space as it should.
links
- https://www.altaro.com/vmware/ghettovcb-back- up-vms/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMitWnNxp4
- https://forums.unraid.net/topic/30507-guide-scheduled-backup-your-esxi-vms-to-unraid-with-ghettovcb/
- https://blog.kingj.net/2016/07/03/how-to/backing-up-vmware-esxi-vms-with-ghettovcb/
- https://sudonull.com/post/95754-Backing-up-ESXi-virtual-machines-with-ghettoVCB-scripts#esxi-3