Basics

Setup Proxmox on NVMe

We have a 256G NVMe or SSD and want to use this disk for more than a boot disk. We can also use it for a ZFS pool for for VM's using replication and High Availability.

Nalle

Nalle

— 2 min read
Setup Proxmox on NVMe
Photo by Alexandre Debiève / Unsplash

We have a 256 G NVMe or SSD and want to use this disk for more than a boot disk. We can use it in a ZFS pool for for VM's using replication and High Availability. Or we need a high speed VM and can't afford 12G or 24G SAS disks.

  • Setup Proxmox to use 32 -64 G for boot, swap and system LVM storage (if running low on disk LVM is a knight in shining armor, if there is spare space on the drive. For a 256 G SSD: 38 G for Proxmox and 200 G for the cluster.
  • The rest 200 - 900 G is for the partition sda4 that will be the 'tank' used for mission critical VM/CT's with replication and HA.
  • ISO's are best to keep on a NAS.
  • Backups on Proxmox Backup Server.

Install Proxmox

We will use a special setup for the boot disk. Select your disk and special and set the disk size to 38G.

After the initial boot we start setting up the rest

Create a new partition on the boot disk

fstab /dev/sda # a 256G NVMe, 38G for Proxmox
Command (m for help): n # create a new partition
Partition number (4-128, default 4): 4 # the new partition number
First sector.......................: # just hit [enter]
Last sector........................: +200G #to create a 200G partion
Command (m for help): w # writes the new partition table to your disk

Add a zpool - tank on sda4

Create the ZPOOL 'tank' from the GUI or CLI. Her I use the famous 'tank' but you could use something more interesting.
Avoid using local and local-lvm - they are tiny. Set up more disks for your storage needs. ZFS is the best for Proxmox and you get to use all the features of Proxmox.

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SAS is better but SATA is OK in a home lab

Create the zpool

Use the CLI see below or the GUI: ZFS tab, Create: ZFS, select sda4
Set add it you are setting up the first 'tank' in a HA cluster, leave it off for the rest.

zpool create -f -o ashift=12 tank /dev/sda4

Splitting disks into partitions

You may want to split other disks to have a 200 G partitions for creating a large array for 'tank' and use mirror and/or RAID-Z1 or -Z2

Next article will be /proxmox-setup-cluster.
How to use HBA controllers and what to consider setting up a cluster

Read more