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   all
LV  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 installimage
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface <hardware_network_iface> inet manual
auto 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 command ip -c link . Usually it will be the second entry named eno, 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.