Guidelines for a reliable Proxmox, usage OPNSense, storage server

SpookyAction

New Member
Oct 29, 2023
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3
3
Hi,

I know I could have all the info reading the PVE Admin guide. Can you please help me to fast track a bit for my modest scenario.

Current Proxmox: single server, updated to v8.3. Installed using all default options (I believe FS is ext4, LVM thin). Used for sporadic testing of various Linux ISOs. And learning OPNSense. The real usage so far is a PiHole server on Debian 12.

My Google One 100GB is running out of space. So I am thinking of using Proxmox as storage server as well. Now the Proxmox usage is going to need more reliability. Can you please give me the high level description of how I should setup my Proxmox server?
  • The storage underlying the Proxmox server should be reliable (which file system ? Do I need 2 drives?)
  • 50% to 70% of Proxmox storage is used for file server. My usage is very modest, mostly small VMs which I can recreate from scratch in case of disaster. No VM backup yet, mostly b/c I don't know yet how to use Proxmox Backup Server
  • The VMs which would run permanently are: OPNSense (with a pass through 2 ports NIC), a shared storage server, PiHole
  • The content of the share storage would need to be backed up on external USB enclosure from times to time.
The key points which I need help is the design of a reliable storage solution for both Proxmox and the shared storage server. In terms of storage capacity, 2TB would be enough for both Proxmox, VMs and shared storage for home usage. Low power would be appreciated. Thinking of using only SSD NVMe for storage in the same Proxmox server.

I have read a few guides from Proxmox forum Share persistent host-directory to VM, Reddit Virtual NAS on Proxmox? best approach? But those cover only the NAS/file server. I am looking for a solution which is simpler for maintenance. Hopefully it is OK to use the same disk drive for both Proxmox and file server. Ideally I would prefer the "file sharing server" solution be virtualized running within the same Proxmox server.

Sorry for the vague questions. Please correct and guide me if anything seems incorrect. Once I get the building blocks of the setup, I would lookup further in the documentation.

Thanks.
 

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