VM Setup with Copy / Paste / SSH-Keys

J

j.io

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Mar 16, 2021
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Hi,

when setting up a new VM from a blank Linux, one has to set

- root password,
- user password,
- (SSH keys / key files),

as well as copy / pasting some commands or scripts. The copy / paste functionalities of Proxmox unfortunately do not always work as expected. My question to you - what is your best practice to solve such problems? Once the SSH keys are exchanged, most of the problems can be solved by copy / pasting in the terminal and sending the commands / files via SSH.

So far the only thing I see is to set easy passwords, connect via SSH, and change the passwords afterwards ...
 
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j.io said:
The copy / paste functionalities of Proxmox unfortunately do not always work as expected.
Click to expand...
What do you expect and what is not working in detail? Please provide details.
 
tom said:
What do you expect and what is not working in detail? Please provide details.
Click to expand...
I am using macOS with Safari (latest versions of both).

In Proxmox, I set up the VM and install e.g. Debian via NoVNC. When asked for a root password, I cannot paste from macOS to NoVNC (CMD+v). When wanting to paste SSH keys later in the OS shell the same applies. Copying commands also does not work. If I type them, I cannot type a "pipe" character, no matter what localization and keyboard setup / language set I use (tried them all).

I expect that I can copy any string from macOS to NoVNC running in the Safari browser. Is that expectation wrong?
 
Copy/Paste cannot work with NoVNC, by design.

If you see issues inside, try different Browsers (e.g. Firefox). pipe (and others) should work fine inside a NoVNC console.
 
j.io said:
what is your best practice to solve such problems?
Click to expand...
Just to add: If you need copy/paste for VM consoles, you can use SPICE.

But there is no SPICE client for macOS.
 
tom said:
Just to add: If you need copy/paste for VM consoles, you can use SPICE.

But there is no SPICE client for macOS.
Click to expand...
I think there is something. But SPICE is greyed out for VM, seems to work only for the host. What to do about that?
 
bbgeek17 said:
I think what you want is to research :
cloud-init https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cloud-Init_Support
cloud images http://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/
templates https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/VM_Templates_and_Clones

Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox
Click to expand...
Well, indeed that is a good tip. Can you tell me how I use that cloud images and deploy them on Proxmox? Which files would I require to start the VM? I only know the procedure for *.iso files.

I found that page: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cloud-Init_Support#_deploying_cloud_init_templates

However, is there a GUI way of doing that?
 
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bbgeek17 said:
There are two parts:
- Creating VM image from a cloud image. This is done by importing a disk. I dont believe there is UI wizard for it.
- Setting up Cloud Init. Basic options are available in UI, more advanced stuff is done via CLI

https://norocketscience.at/deploy-proxmox-virtual-machines-using-cloud-init/

Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox
Click to expand...
Thanks, that worked. I do not get the part with the serial console (why is that necessary?).
 
I would suggest you add serial console to your virtual machine. (Hardware -> Add Serial Port).

Then you have to activate it. See:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Serial_Terminal
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SerialConsoleHowto#Server_Setup

For Debian 11 is is very easy:
systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service
systemctl start serial-getty@ttyS0.service

Then instead on noVNC you can open xterm.js -> here you can paste text!
Or you can access the machine from the host with: qm terminal <VMiD>
 
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