proxmox-auto-installer-server

This Dockerfile provides a mechanism to host answer.toml files, served dynamically, for Automated Proxmox VE installation via the HTTP answer file option.

Doc: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation

NOTE: Throughout this document, it's assumed that you are performing this on a Proxmox VE host or similar Debian/Ubuntu based solution. You may need to modify these steps if you are using another distro.

Builds are available at the following Docker repositories:

• Docker Hub: docker.io/slothcroissant/proxmox-auto-installer-server
• GitHub Container Registry: ghcr.io/slothcroissant/proxmox-auto-installer-server
• Quay Container Registry: quay.io/slothcroissant/proxmox-auto-installer-server

Run the Container

Populate a folder on the host with your .toml files (in this example, /host/path/answers). Each file must contain the mac address of any NIC presented by the host in 01:23:45:67:89:ab case-insensitive format - for example:

• 01:23:45:67:89:ab.toml
• myhost_01:23:45:67:89:ab.toml

Run the container:

docker run -p 8000:8000 --mount type=bind,source=/host/path/answers,target=/app/answers slothcroissant/proxmox-auto-installer-server:latest

Key	Value
-p 8000:8000	Port (host:container) on which to expose the application. The container port is 8000, but you can map a different port via Docker. Ref: Docker: Expose Ports
--mount type=bind,source=/host/path/answers,target=/app/answers	Volume (via Bind Mount) exposed into the container. This can be anywhere on your host, and should always map to /app/answers in the container. Ref: Docker: Bind Mounts
-e PUID=<int> (Optional)	Sets the container's User ID (PUID) in case your volume mount has dependencies on PUID/PGID and is different than the default 1000.
-e PGID=<int> (Optional)	Sets the container's Group ID (PGID) in case your volume mount has dependencies on PUID/PGID and is different than the default 1000.

Take note of your docker host's IP address and exposed port (if you deviated from the default 8000), so you can point PVE to it later.

PVE Automated Install Process

Prerequisites

You will need to point Proxmox at your now-deployed container URL: http://<ip_address>:8000/answer.

If using DNS (via TXT record at proxmox-auto-installer.{search domain}, where {search domain} is the search domain provided by the DHCP server) or DHCP (as DHCP option 250) discovery options, you must have these configured prior to proceeding. As there are an infinite number of DNS/DHCP servers out there, please reference your specific solution if you choose this path.

Alternatively, there are no prerequisites if using the --url option in the ISO itself.

Once this container is running, you will see logs confirming:

======== Running on http://0.0.0.0:8000 ========

Boot Proxmox

To run the PVE installer against this container:

1. Install proxmox-auto-install-assistant:

   apt install proxmox-auto-install-assistant

2. Download the PVE ISO from https://www.proxmox.com/downloads:

   wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/iso/proxmox-ve_8.2-2.iso

3. Prepare the PVE ISO for Automated Install

   • If using DNS/DHCP (previously configured - see prerequisites):

     proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso \
       --fetch-from http \
       --output /root/proxmox-ve_8.2-2.-httpanswer.iso \
       /root/proxmox-ve_8.2-2.iso
     

   • If using -url to declare the URL manually, you must add the parameter:

     proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso \
       --fetch-from http \
       --url http://<ip_address>:8000/answer
       --output /root/proxmox-ve_8.2-2.-httpanswer.iso \
       /root/proxmox-ve_8.2-2.iso
     

4. Boot to this ISO, and the automated process shoud take over from there!

Appendix

GitHub SSH Keys

GitHub allows anyone to retrieve their (or anyone's) SSH public key by heading to https://github.com/.keys. For example, mine is: https://github.com/SlothCroissant.keys. This is used by client-side tooling to automate addition of these keys into solutions. For example, when installing Canonical Ubuntu, you can specify your GitHub username, and the installer will retrieve your public keys to be injected into your user account's allowed keys list.

You can now use this feature in proxmox-auto-installer-server. Add the following (optional) TOML, and the user's keys will be appended to your global.root_ssh_keys[]

[custom]
github_username = "Octocat" # Will add this user's GitHub public key(s) to global.root_ssh_keys[].

Example JSON POST data

In the example_post_data folder, you can find a few exmples of the JSON POST data sent by Proxmox VE installer, for reference.