How to install PVE 3.3 on Mac Mini 6,1

[jef]

There are a few threads on Mac Mini installs, but I'll post my method in case it may save some time or frustration.

There are three basic problems to overcome:

• You must add the NOAPIC boot parameter to avoid a kernel panic
• PVE 3.2 and 3.3 installers do not leave a bootable system
• PVE 3.1 leaves a bootable system, but doesn't include working ethernet drivers

In order to overcome this, we install PVE 3.1 to get a bootable environment, install the updated kernel from the PVE 3.3 install CD to get networking support, and then upgrade over the network.

You will need:

• A late 2012 Mac Mini (6,1 tested)
• A USB CDROM drive
• A PVE 3.1 install CD (i.e., from proxmox-ve_3.1-xxxxxxx-x.iso)
• A PVE 3.3 install CD (i.e., from proxmod-ve_3.3-xxxxxxx-x.iso)
• An wired ethernet connection capable of providing Internet access

Instructions:

1. Boot to PVE 3.1 CD by pressing the "C" key during power-up.
2. Type linux noapic at the boot: prompt.
3. Install as usual. Note: you must supply network configuration information manually as no defaults will be picked up via DHCP.
4. After the reboot, press "e" (to edit) when the GRUB screen appears. You have to be fast.
5. Arrow down and change

   linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-pve root=/dev/mapper/pve-root ro quiet

   to

   linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-pve root=/dev/mapper/pve-root ro [B]noapic[/B] quiet

   then F10 or CTRL+X to boot.
6. Edit /etc/default/grub changing

   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"

   to

   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="noapic quiet"

   then run update-grub2 to generate a new grub config.
7. You should now have a bootable system. Reboot to test if you want.
8. Insert and mount the PVE 3.3 CD:
   

   mkdir /mnt/cdrom
   mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

9. Manually install the kernel package from PVE 3.3:
   

   dpkg –i /mnt/cdrom/proxmox/packages/pve-kernel-2.6.32-32-pve_2.6.32-136_amd64.deb

10. Reboot and check networking (it should work).
11. Comment out the enterprise repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list and add the pve-no-subscription repo to /etc/apt/sources.list:
    

    deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian wheezy pve-no-subscription

12. Update to PVE 3.3:
    

    apt-get update
    apt-get dist-upgrade

13. Reboot and test out your new Proxmox 3.3 installation.
14. Buy a subscription before using in production.

Cheers,

Jef

 

[R27]

Thank you!

 

[da5id]

These instructions worked like a charm. I installed using a USB stick and so went through the boot manager instead of hitting C.

Another thing to note in case someone runs into issues: You will need to enable your network adapter after manually installing the newer kernel package and the reboot.

These machines make a nice cluster environment; especially the i7's. For my earlier machines I used a slightly more complicated method of installing. It's a shame that Apple decided to discontinue the quad core i7 Mini's.

 

[Martin Cleaver]

Can I assume you completely replaced OSX?

 

[da5id]

Martin,

I currently run 6 Mac Mini's in a collocated environment. Originally I used ESXi as a hypervisor and ran a number of OS X installations for server purposes. OS X 10.8 brought on tons of headaches in the virtualized environment, and after about a week of battling I moved to CentOS for most of the production machines. I then migrated to Ubuntu, and began looking at alternatives for ESXi. I am in the process of migrating all of the hosts to Proxmox with about half of them done.

To answer your question directly: Yes. In fact, I decommissioned my last OS X VM a couple weeks ago.

OS X is too heavy, and it has really become an end user OS environment. I still use OS X on my laptop, but I have found Linux (pick your flavor) to be much better for my server needs. I know there are a lot of users who utilize the Mini's as development environments and so would like to run OS X in a virtualized setting. However, I use them as more of a poor mans blade in a clustered, HA environment.

 

[Martin Cleaver]

Thanks, great context

 

[da5id]

Sorry for another reply, but I love these little machines and like to give them a boost whenever the opportunity presents itself. Here is a quick graphic I made that, while by no means is comprehensive, illustrates why they are such workhorses:

 

[Martin Cleaver]

Cool! Thanks for that I too have an i7 Mac Mini - I use proxmox in it inside VirtualBox

 

[da5id]

Confirmed working on Mac Mini 6,2