Post

Building a Home Server with Proxmox: A Guide to Using ZFS and the Right Hardware

Posted
By Manuel Laggner
5 min read
Building a Home Server with Proxmox: A Guide to Using ZFS and the Right Hardware

Building your own home server is an exciting project that gives you full control over your data, applications, and hardware. With the right setup, you can create a versatile and powerful server that meets your specific needs. This guide will walk you through building a home server using Proxmox, a powerful and flexible virtualization platform, and will cover the hardware selection, configuration, and setting up ZFS as your storage solution.

In this case, we’ll focus on a build using the following hardware:

  • Fractal Design - Node 304 (ITX case)
  • Asrock - A320M-ITX (motherboard)
  • be quiet! - System Power 9 400W (power supply)
  • Intel - 660p 512GB (SSD for Proxmox)
  • Toshiba - Enterprise MG06ACA 512e 8TB (HDDs for data storage)
  • AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (CPU)
  • Crucial Pro RAM 64GB (memory)

We’ll walk through the installation and configuration of Proxmox on this system and create a ZFS mirror with the hard drives for redundancy and data protection.

Why Proxmox and ZFS?

Proxmox

Proxmox is an open-source platform for virtualization management. It supports both KVM for virtual machines (VMs) and LXC for containers, making it a highly flexible platform for running various workloads. It also includes a web-based interface for easy management of virtual environments and hardware resources.

ZFS

ZFS is a highly reliable file system that supports advanced features like data integrity checks, compression, and, most importantly, the ability to create RAID-like setups (e.g., mirrors) for redundancy. This makes ZFS an ideal choice for a home server where data protection is important. In this guide, we’ll use ZFS to create a mirror setup with your 8TB hard drives for redundancy.

Step 1: Building the Physical System

Before diving into Proxmox and ZFS, let’s first assemble the hardware components.

Hardware Assembly:

  1. Install the CPU (AMD Ryzen 5 5600G):
    • Start by installing the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor onto the Asrock A320M-ITX motherboard. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the installation of the CPU and thermal paste.
  2. Install the Memory (Crucial Pro RAM 64GB):
    • Insert the Crucial Pro 64GB RAM into the available DIMM slots on the motherboard. Ensure that the memory is seated properly.
  3. Install the SSD (Intel 660p 512GB):
    • Mount the Intel 660p 512GB SSD into the motherboard’s M.2 slot. This will serve as your operating system drive.
  4. Install the HDDs (Toshiba Enterprise MG06ACA 8TB):
    • Install the Toshiba 8TB HDDs into the Fractal Design Node 304 case. This case has plenty of room for multiple drives and is compact yet efficient for ITX systems. Ensure the hard drives are properly connected to the motherboard via SATA cables.
  5. Power Supply (be quiet! System Power 9 400W):
    • Install the be quiet! System Power 9 400W power supply into the case. Make sure it provides enough power for your components, particularly with the 64GB of RAM and the two 8TB drives.
  6. Final Assembly:
    • After connecting all components, carefully close the case and ensure everything is powered up properly.

Step 2: Installing Proxmox

Download Proxmox:

  • Go to the Proxmox website and download the latest ISO for Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment).

Create a Bootable USB:

  • Use tools like Rufus or Etcher to create a bootable USB drive from the Proxmox ISO.

Install Proxmox:

  1. Boot from the USB and start the Proxmox installer.
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Proxmox onto your Intel 660p 512GB SSD.
  3. Choose the correct disk (SSD) for the OS installation during the process.
  4. After installation, reboot and remove the installation media (USB).

Step 3: Configuring the ZFS Mirror

After successfully installing Proxmox, we’ll configure a ZFS mirror with the two 8TB Toshiba hard drives to ensure redundancy.

Log in to Proxmox Web Interface:

  • Open a web browser and navigate to https://your-proxmox-ip:8006.
  • Log in using the root account and password you set during the installation.

Install ZFS on Proxmox:

  1. Open a Shell in the Proxmox web interface or SSH into your server.

  2. Install the necessary ZFS packages by running the following command:

    1
2

    apt update
apt install zfsutils-linux

Create ZFS Mirror:

  1. Identify your hard drives using the lsblk or fdisk -l command to ensure that both Toshiba 8TB drives are visible.

  2. Create a ZFS mirror using the following command:

    1

    zpool create mypool mirror /dev/sda /dev/sdb

    Here, /dev/sda and /dev/sdb refer to the two Toshiba 8TB drives. You can replace mypool with a name of your choice for the ZFS pool.

  3. To check the status of your ZFS pool, use:

    1

    zpool status

    This will confirm that your mirror is created successfully and is healthy.

Configure ZFS for Your Use:

  • Once the mirror is created, you can start creating datasets or volumes to store your data.
  • You can also configure ZFS to automatically mount the pool upon boot.

Step 4: Set Up Virtual Machines (VMs) or Containers

With Proxmox installed and your storage configured with ZFS, you can start setting up virtual environments to run your services.

  1. In the Proxmox web interface, navigate to Create VM to set up virtual machines.
  2. Configure the amount of CPU, memory, and storage resources for each VM. You can use the ZFS pool as the storage backend for these VMs.
  3. You can also create LXC containers for lightweight applications that don’t require a full VM.

Step 5: Monitoring and Maintenance

Once your server is up and running, it’s important to regularly monitor and maintain the system:

  • Monitor ZFS Health: Regularly check the status of your ZFS pool with zpool status to ensure everything is running smoothly.
  • Backups: Consider setting up automatic backups for your critical data.
  • Proxmox Updates: Ensure that Proxmox is regularly updated to stay secure and benefit from the latest features.

Final words

Building a home server with Proxmox, ZFS, and high-quality hardware like the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, 64GB of RAM, and large Toshiba 8TB HDDs offers a powerful and flexible solution for virtualization, data storage, and more. The use of ZFS for data redundancy via a mirror setup ensures that your data is protected against drive failures.

By following these steps, you can set up a reliable and secure home server that meets your needs for performance, redundancy, and scalability. Whether you want to run VMs, containers, or store large amounts of data, this build provides an excellent foundation for a home server that you can easily expand and manage.

homeserver, linux
linux proxmox
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.