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gyptazy - it's all about FreeBSD, Proxmox, BGP and Coding!

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Proxmox Cloud Image and Bare-Metal Auto Installation for Proxmox VE

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Over the last few months, I’ve repeatedly been asked how I test my Ansible modules and ProxLB setup in a fully automated and reproducible way. When developing new features or debugging complex behavior, having a clean, quickly deployable Proxmox instance is essential.

The same question usually follows: how can Proxmox be deployed without walking through the ISO installer step by step? And is there something like a Proxmox cloud image that can be booted just like Ubuntu or Debian?

Testing and Automating Proxmox Deployments

Until now, there was no real out-of-the-box solution that was both fast and automation-friendly. That’s why I built exactly that: a prebuilt, ready-to-use Proxmox VE 8.4 image designed for automated cloud deployments and bare-metal auto installations.

These images are self-created and not officially provided by Proxmox. Use them at your own risk.

They allow consistent testing, rapid provisioning, and seamless integration into automation pipelines using tools like Ansible. Whether you want to run automated tests, experiment with Proxmox, or bootstrap new environments, these images eliminate the need for manual installer interaction.

The system boots, becomes reachable automatically, and can be post-provisioned immediately. No installer, no clicks, no hassle.

Cloud and Bare-Metal Proxmox Images

Both the cloud image and the bare-metal auto installation image are designed for simplicity and flexibility. After booting, the system automatically requests an IP address via DHCP, allowing instant access without manual network configuration.

By default, login is possible using the root account with the password admin123. For security reasons, the root password should be changed immediately after the first login.

In cloud environments, it is strongly recommended to configure SSH key-based authentication and disable password-based root login entirely.

Important Considerations for the Proxmox Cloud Image

On the first boot of the cloud image, Proxmox services such as Corosync may fail to start if the hostname resolves to an incorrect IP address. This typically happens when the /etc/hosts file does not match the system’s actual IP configuration.

If the hostname resolves incorrectly, cluster-related services will fail to communicate properly.

To avoid this issue, follow this recommended workflow:

After rebooting, all Proxmox services start correctly and the node is ready for use.

Default Credentials

Both images use identical default credentials. Make sure to change them immediately.

Downloads

The Proxmox images are available directly from cdn.gyptazy.com:

Note: These images are not official Proxmox releases and are provided as-is. Use them at your own risk.

Related Proxmox Automation Projects

In addition to these images, I’ve developed several Ansible modules that simplify day-to-day Proxmox administration.

proxmox_storage handles storage backends such as iSCSI, NFS, and Ceph. proxmox_node manages subscriptions and certificates. proxmox_cluster simplifies cluster creation and node joining.

Together with these automated Proxmox installation images, they form a complete toolkit for building reproducible, scalable, and fully automated Proxmox environments.