Migrate Proxmox VE Host Installation

Oct 18, 2022
42
3
8
I currently have Proxmox installed on a zfs single disk, and want to move it to a zfs mirror. The tricky part is that the disk it is on now will be one of the disks in the mirror. How would I move the install to a temporary location, create the mirror with the two disks, and then move the install to the mirror? I would use Proxmox Backup Server for this, but that is running as a VM on Proxmox VE, and while I have all of my VMs backed up through it, I do not know how I would restore them since Proxmox Backup server is one of the VMs that would need to be restored. All of that being said though, the backups themselves are on a separate bare metal install of TrueNAS Scale. I do not have a backup of the Proxmox VE host, and I cannot find a good way to do that other than install the Proxmox Backup Client, but that still runs into the issue that I don't think Proxmox Backup Server can restore itself. :P
 
Why not run PBS on truenas scale?
According to the website it offers the option to run KVM VMs.
 
Why not run PBS on truenas scale?
According to the website it offers the option to run KVM VMs.
My intention was to separate the system that runs VMs from the system that I am storing my backup files so that if one goes down, I only lose one or the other, and not both. A friend of mine was just asking me the other day why I didn't install TrueNAS as a VM on Proxmox. Imagine how much harder that would make this task than it already is. :P
 
I currently have Proxmox installed on a zfs single disk, and want to move it to a zfs mirror. The tricky part is that the disk it is on now will be one of the disks in the mirror. How would I move the install to a temporary location, create the mirror with the two disks, and then move the install to the mirror? I
You don't need that. You can create a mirror out of your existing single disk ZFS pool. See the zpool attach command: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/8/zpool-attach.8.html
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ClintonITWorks
In case you also boot from that disk you might also want to clone the partition table first and write the bootloader to the new disk. Similar to paragraph "Changing a failed boot device" here, but instead of replacing an existing disk with a new one, you attach that new disk to the existing one, forming a mirror.

So instead of a zpool replace -f <pool> <old zfs partition> <new zfs partition> you do a zpool attach <pool> <zfs partition existing disk> <zfs partition new disk>
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ClintonITWorks
In case you also boot from that disk you might also want to clone the partition table first and write the bootloader to the new disk. Similar to paragraph "Changing a failed boot device" here, but instead of replacing an existing disk with a new one, you attach that new disk to the existing one, forming a mirror.
Yes, this is the root install disk of the Proxmox VE host, so I do boot from it.
 

About

The Proxmox community has been around for many years and offers help and support for Proxmox VE, Proxmox Backup Server, and Proxmox Mail Gateway.
We think our community is one of the best thanks to people like you!

Get your subscription!

The Proxmox team works very hard to make sure you are running the best software and getting stable updates and security enhancements, as well as quick enterprise support. Tens of thousands of happy customers have a Proxmox subscription. Get yours easily in our online shop.

Buy now!