This guide explains how to install Proxmox on a Debian 12 machine using Ansible.
Preparing/installing the target machine
During the installation of Debian please keep the software group
standard system utilities checked:
If you did not do this, some errors will occur when running Ansible, e.g. about missing Python, and Python-apt. This can be solved by installing these packages, and symbolic linking them into Pythons packages:
apt install python3 python3-apt
cd /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages
ln -s apt_inst.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so apt_inst.so
ln -s apt_pkg.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so apt_pkg.so
Ansible playbook
Now that we have a target machine, we can go and install Proxmox on it. For this playbook https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_12_Bookworm was used as a reference.
---
- name: Docker playbook
hosts:
- all
tasks:
- name: Fix hosts entries (remove localhost references 1/2)
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/hosts
search_string: '127.0.0.1'
line: ""
owner: root
group: root
mode: '0644'
- name: Fix hosts entries (remove localhost references 2/2)
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/hosts
search_string: '127.0.1.1'
line: ""
owner: root
group: root
mode: '0644'
- name: Fix hosts entries (adding localhost reference)
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/hosts
search_string: '127.0.0.1'
line: "127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost"
owner: root
group: root
mode: '0644'
- name: Fix hosts entries (add Proxmox FQDN)
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/hosts
search_string: '127.0.0.1'
line: "192.168.15.77 debian.proxmox.com debian"
owner: root
group: root
mode: '0644'
- name: Download Proxmox release public key with check (sha512)
ansible.builtin.get_url:
url: https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg
dest: /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg
checksum: sha512:7da6fe34168adc6e479327ba517796d4702fa2f8b4f0a9833f5ea6e6b48f6507a6da403a274fe201595edc86a84463d50383d07f64bdde2e3658108db7d6dc87
mode: '0444'
- name: Add source Proxmox repository into sources list
ansible.builtin.apt_repository:
repo: "deb [arch=amd64] http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription"
state: "present"
- name: Update apt cache
apt:
update_cache: yes
- name: Update and upgrade base
apt:
update_cache: yes
state: latest
autoclean: yes
autoremove: yes
- name: Installing Proxmox
apt:
pkg:
- proxmox-ve
- postfix
- open-iscsi
- ifupdown2 # With ifupdown2 you can apply a new network configuration to the host without rebooting it.
state: present
- name: Remove "os-prober" package
# The os-prober package scans all the partitions of your host,
# including those assigned to guests VMs, to create dual-boot GRUB
# entries. If you didn't install Proxmox VE as dual boot beside another
# Operating System, you can safely remove the os-prober package.
ansible.builtin.apt:
name: os-prober
state: absent
When executing the playbook, the following output should be visible:
SSH password:
PLAY [Docker playbook] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Fix hosts entries (remove localhost references 1/2)] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Fix hosts entries (remove localhost references 2/2)] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Fix hosts entries (adding localhost reference)] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Fix hosts entries (add Proxmox FQDN)] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Download Proxmox release public key with check (sha512)] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Add source Proxmox repository into sources list] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Update apt cache] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Update and upgrade base] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Installing Proxmox] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
TASK [Remove "os-prober" package] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [root@192.168.5.22]
PLAY RECAP **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
root@192.168.5.22 : ok=11 changed=8 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
The stage Installing Proxmox can take a while
After the installation the Proxmox should be available for use:
