Multiple blockchain nodes in one dedicated server — Part 1: Virtualization using Proxmox
First, you need a dedicated server on which you can install virtualization environment — Proxmox. In my case I use EX62-NVMe server from Hetzner.
Second, about 15–30 minutes of time to get things done.
The following description is the simplest approach to installing Proxmox system, but not the best. In the next tutorials I will try to describe a better solution, but much more complicated.
Proxmox installation
On the Intel server, for instance EX62, the easiest way to install Proxmox is to use installimage
script according to https://docs.hetzner.com/robot/dedicated-server/operating-systems/installimage/
Activate Rescue System and run Installimage
On the EX62 server you have to activate Rescue System
from Robot administration panel.
Next you have to log onto server using credentials provided by Robot and type
$ installimage
Select Other Images
and Proxmox Debian Buster
Configure Proxmox installation
In this step you have to configure your Proxmox installation. To make things really easy we are going to use ext4
file system and entire disk storage as one root partition.
1. Change volumes filesystem from ext3
to ext4
2. Configure partitions like following
(8 GB swap size will be enough in most cases)
PART /boot ext4 512M
PART lvm vg0 allLV vg0 swap swap swap 8G
LV vg0 root / ext4 all
3. Choose your RAID
configuration. RAID1
is recommended
4. You can also setup HOSTNAME
variable as you wish
5. Press F10
to Save and Quit. Configuration file will be checked against any errors. Some confirmations will be needed to proceed.
6. Waif few minutes for installation to complete and type reboot
to restart your server with brand new Proxmox system.
7. Login as root
to your server using the same password as you used for Rescue System to login.
8. Ignore following warning
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
and remove server fingerprint from known_hosts
using command from this warning.
ssh-keygen -f "/home/<username>/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "<server_ip_address>"
9. Login again and accept new server fingerprint.
Network Interface Configuration
To make your Proxmox
virtual environment ready to create new virtual machines you should configure network interface. I chose a bridge configuration and use the Proxmox server IP to act as the gateway. Using this configuration you will need a single additional IP address for each created VM. Use nano
to edit configuration file:
$ nano /etc/network/interfaces
and make changes according to the following template:
### Hetzner Online GmbH installimagesource /etc/network/interfaces.d/*auto lo
iface lo inet loopbackiface <hardware_network_iface> inet manualauto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
address <ip_address>
netmask <netmask_address>
gateway <gateway_address>
bridge-ports <hardware_network_iface>
bridge-stp off
bridge-fd 0
Where:
<your_ip_address>
,<your_netmask>
,<your_gateway>
— you can get from Hetzner Robot panel
<hardware_network_iface>
— can be found with the commandip -c link
. Usually it will be the second entry namedeno, enp, ens
etc…
Reboot is needed after changing this configuration.
Conclusion
Now you have ready to use Proxmox virtualization environment with a lot of nice features. In the next tutorial I will describe how to create Virtual Machine using this setup.