Remote Lab, Part 2: Configuring Proxmox
- Part 1 (Introduction, OVH configuration.)
- Part 2 (Configuring Proxmox. You’re here!)
- Part 3 (Installing pfSense.)
- Part 4 (Configuring pfSense.)
Now, we’ll need to install Proxmox on the server. I won’t cover the basic installation in this post, but I am using Proxmox VE 5, which is available as a template during installation with OVH’s wizard.
Securing Proxmox’s web interface⌗
Once you have installed your hypervisor and logged in, I recommend taking a couple of extra steps to improve security, because the web interface is public facing:
- Set up your own administrative user and disable the default one.
- Set up two-factor authentication. I followed this guide.
- Get a valid SSL certificate. I followed
this guide
to get a certificate from Let’s Encrypt using
acme.sh(but the steps usingcertbotlook good, too). - Disable password authentication over SSH and use key authentication instead.
Disabling the enterprise apt repository⌗
Unless you have a Proxmox subscription, apt will fail with an exit code of 100.
This is because it is trying to read from the subscription-only enterprise apt
repository.
Comment out the only line in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list and
run apt update.
Network bridges⌗
For the most basic setup, three network bridges are required (which will become the WAN, LAN and OPT1 interfaces in our router). These are configured in the host node’s network settings.
| Name | Type | Ports/Slaves | IP address | Subnet mask | Gateway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vmbr0 | Linux bridge | eth0 | Primary IP address (ex. 5.39.50.60) | 255.255.255.0 | Primary gateway address (ex. 5.39.50.254) |
| vmbr1 | Linux bridge | dummy0 | (none) | (none) | (none) |
| vmbr2 | Linux bridge | dummy1 | (none) | (none) | (none) |
Virtual hardware for pfSense⌗
Below are the current specifications for my router’s virtual hardware. Your mileage may vary.
| Item | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2 vCPUs | A type of “host” (for host-passthrough) is required if you would like to use AES-NI CPU cryptography |
| RAM | 4G | |
| Storage | 32G | I am using a VirtIO disk |
| Network Device 1 | vmbr0, VirtIO (or E1000) | This will be used as the WAN interface |
| Network Device 2 | vmbr1, VirtIO (or E1000) | This will be used as the LAN interface |
| Network Device 3 | vmbr2, VirtIO (or E1000) | This will be used as the OPT1 interface |
In the next part, we’ll install pfSense and configure the basic interfaces.