Speedy KVM Creation

I created a special Debian 10 preseed iso just for my Proxmox kvm machines. I can go from zero to ready to rock in under 10 minutes!

The preseeded iso starts automatically, installs a few key packages, sets vim as my default editor and copies my ssh public key to my authorized_keys file so I can run the Ansible playbook right after install.

• I created the preseed file then added it to the ISO using my Zero Interaction method.
• https://gitlab.com/preseed/preseed-kvm/-/blob/da3402a1f9331fd23816703f62057091b7a36045/preseed.cfg

I created a small playbook to configure the system for me so it's set up the way I like.

• https://gitlab.com/ansible9/ansible-kvm/-/blob/master/basic_kvm.yml
• Run it like so:

  ansible-playbook -v -b --ask-become-pass -i xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, basic_kvm.yml

If it's a VM that I plan on keeping around for a while, I'll give it a static IP address in pfSense before installing Debian. The preseed will use the hostname I assigned it in pfSense as the system hostname when configuring the network via DHCP.

Otherwise, the system's hostname will be set as hostname and it will be assigned an ip address outside of the 'reserved' addresses for the vlan I added it to.

• Open the Proxmox web interface
• Upload the newly created preseed-iso to your Proxmox storage
• Create a VM with whatever settings you want, using the preseed-iso for the CD/DVD disk image.
• Start the virtual machine.
• Wait for it to complete. It took roughly 7 minutes for mine.
• Run the ansible playbook.
• Enjoy!

• ssh into Proxmox:

  ssh user@proxmox

• The iso's on my system are located at /media/sas/data/template/iso. Use your favorite file transfer method to get the iso file there (or the iso storage location on your system).
• List current VMs:

  sudo qm list

• Pick a free vmid and create a new VM with your preferred settings:

  sudo qm create 150 --cdrom sas-storage:iso/preseed-debian-10.4.iso \
    --name preseed --numa 0 --ostype l26 \
    --cpu cputype=host --cores 2 --sockets 2 \
    --memory 4096  \
    --net0 bridge=vmbr90,virtio \
    --bootdisk scsi0 --scsihw virtio-scsi-pci --scsi0 file=ssd-lvm:32 \
    --serial0 socket --vga qxl --audio0 device=ich9-intel-hda,driver=spice
  
  # I'll add macaddr=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX to the --net0 section if I want to pre-configure the ip in pfSense beforehand.

• Start the vm:

  sudo qm start <vmid>

• Wait for it to complete.
• Run the ansible playbook.
• Enjoy!
• See man qm for more info