Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof, Alan Moore

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy, Joseph Campbell.

“Home Server

Proxmox

Proxmox is an open-source platform for running both virtual machines (full OS instances) and Linux containers (lightweight, OS-level virtualization). It offers a user-friendly web interface for easy management of VMs and containers

BIOS configuration

Configuring the BIOS for Proxmox will ensure optimal performance, security, and support for advanced features like GPU passthrough.

Video Output Priority. Video Setup, Primary Display (or similar) and select PEG, PCIe Graphic Devices. Selecting PEG (PCI Express Graphics) ensures your discrete GPU (a GPU that is a separate from the process) is used for display output.
CPU Virtualization Extensions. Under Advanced, CPU Setup/Configuration, enable Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x, it enables the CPU to run multiple operating systems simultaneously by providing hardware support for virtualization) and VT-d or I/O-device virtualization. VT-d allows direct assignment (“passthrough”) of physical devices, such as GPUs and network interface cards (NICs), into a VM, giving near-native performance.

Install Proxmox

Download the ISO. Go to the official Proxmox website, then navigate to the ISO Downloads page and grab the latest Proxmox VE Installer ISO available.
Create a bootable USB using tools like BalenaEtcher, Rufus or Ventoy. Linux/macOS: sudo dd if=proxmov-ve_*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M conv=fsync. Replace /dev/sdX with your USB device.
Boot from USB. On power-up, press Esc, F2, F10, F11, or F12 to enter the boot menu and select your USB drive.
Launch the Proxmox Installer. Install Proxmox VE, read and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). Choose the target disk where you want to install Proxmox (defaults to ext4). Set Location, Time Zone, and Keyboard Layout. Create a password for your admin credentials and type in an email address for system alerts.
Network Configuration. Select the Management interface (e.g., enp42s0), a hostname for the server (e.g.,myserver.local or pve01.local), static IPv4 Address (e.g., 192.168.1.33), default gateway (192.168.1.1) and DNS server (e.g., 80.58.61.254, 8.8.8.8). Finally, click Install, remove the USB drive when prompted, and reboot the system.

First Boot & Web Access

In the GRUB menu, choose Proxmox Virtual Environment GNU/Linux.
Log into the Web UI. On any machine in the same network, open a browser to the IP address (e.g., https://192.168.1.33:8006 -IP Proxmox Web management interface-) and click Proceed to IP Proxmox Web management interface. Accept the self-signed certificate warning.
Log in as root with the password you set. Finally, ignore the message saying there is no valid subscription for the server. (Subscription notice is harmless if you’re using the free community edition.)

EasySSH

EasySSH is a user-friendly SSH connection manager designed to simplify your SSH connections. It organizes connections into groups for better management. You can customize the terminal appearance to suit your preferences, and it also supports a dark theme for a more comfortable viewing experience.

Install EasySSH. It’s available via Flatpak: flatpak install flathub com.github.muriloventuroso.easyssh
Launch: flatpak run com.github.muriloventuroso.easyssh
Click on Add Connection: Name (you can provide a friendly label for easy reference, e.g., mypromoxserver), Group (organize by function, e.g., myservers), Host (e.g., 192.168.1.33), and Port (22 -ssh-). Enable set credentials, type your username (root) and your password or SSH key.
Create an optional shell alias (e.g., aliases.nix in ~/dotfiles/zsh/) “myserver = “flatpak run com.github.muriloventuroso.easyssh”;

Enabling IOMMU for PCI Passthrough

PCI passthrough allows you to use a physical PCI device (graphics card, network card) inside a VM (KVM virtualization only). If you “PCI passthrough” a device, the device is not available to the host anymore, it lets a VM own a physical device entirely.

To enable IOMMU (Assuming Intel), edit GRUB: vim /etc/default/grub:

# Find the line beginning with "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" and change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on"

# Update GRUB and reboot
update-grub

reboot # Reboot Proxmox
dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU # Verify, you should see something like
[...]
ssh root@192.168.1.33 -p 22
[📦 com.github.muriloventuroso.easyssh scripts]$ ssh root@192.168.1.33 -p 22
Last login: Fri Dec 27 12:00:03 2024 from 192.168.1.36
root@myserver:~# dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU
[    0.043302] DMAR: IOMMU enabled
[    0.994367] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: IOMMU performance counters supported
[    0.998321] perf/amd_iommu: Detected AMD IOMMU #0 (2 banks, 4 counters/bank).
[...]

Biography

YouTube’s channel. Hardware, Haven. My Proxmox Home Server Walk-Through (TrueNAS, Portainer, Wireguard)
WunderTech.net, How to Passthrough a Disk in Proxmox, How to Install TrueNAS on Proxmox & How to Install TrueNAS on Proxmox.
truenas.com, Documentation Hub, TrueNAS Tutorials.

Getting Started with Proxmox VE: BIOS, Installation & Configuration