Proxmox on unixworld

How to import GNS3 VM on Proxmox

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This tutorial will guide you step-by-step on how to set up the GNS3 VM on your Proxmox hypervisor. GNS3 (Graphical Network Simulator 3) is a network simulation tool that allows you to emulate complex network topologies. We will use the latest version of the GNS3 VM at the time of writing (2.2.54) as an example.

Prerequisites

Proxmox server.
SSH access to your Proxmox server or direct shell access.
Basic knowledge of Linux commands.

Step 1: Download the latest GNS3 VM

Open the terminal or web shell on your Proxmox server. You can also use ssh to connect to your server.

Turning laptop into proxmox homelab server

Sun, 18 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In 2025, almost everyone has a spare laptop collecting dust in a box.
In this article, I’ll give a quick overview of how I saved mine by turning it into a test Proxmox node.

1. Hardware

I’m listing only the components relevant to the Proxmox cluster.
There’s extra disk that could be swapped with an SSD for a software RAID 1 setup—but since this is just a test Proxmox node, that’s not necessary (at least for now…).

Moving VM from xen to proxmox

Sun, 11 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Migration Workflow: XenServer to Proxmox

1. Prepare on XenServer (source node)

Turn off the VM and activate its LVM logical volume:

xe vm-disk-list vm=source.host.name

# get the logical volume ID
lvdisplay | grep LV_DISK_ID 

# Activate the logical volume
lvchange -a y /dev/VG_XenStorage-LV_DISK_ID/VHD-ID

Tip: Replace LV_DISK_ID and VHD-ID with actual values from lvdisplay.

2. Export over the network (Xen to Proxmox)

Start listener on destination (Proxmox):

nc -l -p 5000 | pv | dd bs=4096 of=/dev/mapper/vg-vm--111--disk--0

Then send the raw disk from source (XenServer):

Build your Proxmox templates with packer

Wed, 07 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the world of virtualization and infrastructure as code (IaC), automating the creation of virtual machine templates is a critical time-saver. This article introduces my open-source project that uses HashiCorp Packer to create standardized VM templates in Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE).

The Problem with Manual Templates

Creating VM templates manually in Proxmox is time-consuming and error-prone. Each time you need a new template, you must:

Download the ISO
Create a new VM
Install the operating system
Configure basic settings
Convert to template

This process becomes tedious when managing multiple distributions or versions, and it’s difficult to ensure consistency.