Background: I’d like to turn an old personal laptop into a Jellyfin server so that I can stream media to my living room TV. I want to be able to expand what I use this server for over time. I’m leaning toward Proxmox as the OS so that I can spin up new containers for various services instead of installing a bunch of services on a base Debian install. I also want full disk encryption so that any data on the OS drive is less likely to be compromised by theft or Craigslist.
Question #1: I gather the general accepted approach for this is to first install Debian as a base w/ full disk encryption enabled and then install Proxmox on top because there is no option for full disk encryption in the native installer for Proxmox. Is this still the case?
Excerpt from this tutorial from November 2023 on the Proxmox Forum:
This tutorial deals with encryption of an existing installation. If you are starting fresh, my recommendation would be to install Debian with full disk encryption and then add Proxmox to it.
Excerpt from this post from February 2019 on the Level1Techs Forum:
The easiest way to do an encrypted Proxmox setup is to start with a minimal, vanilla Debian install. Set up the encrypted partition using the installer like you would with any other Debian system. Once installed, reboot. Then follow the guide for installing Proxmox on Debian.
Question #2: I don’t mind entering the key manually whenever I reboot the server, but will I be able to unlock the server remotely? For example, suppose I’m tinkering in the web admin panel or an SSH session and I want/need to reboot—will I have to physically go over to the laptop and enter the key every time?
Also, I appreciate any other tips from the community to help me think about this in the right way. Thanks!
I don’t understand why you’d install Debian before the hypervisor.
Edit: TiL thx for the replies. I legit didn’t know of these scenarios.
Proxmox is based on Debian, but its installer does not offer you as many options as the base Debian installer. People figured out you can just install debian with your prefered settings and then just slap the proxmox packages on top.
Because it says to do so?
Proxmox uses Debian as the OS and for several scenarios it says do Debian to get that done and just add the proxmox software. It’s managing qemu kvm on a deb managed kernel
I had to do it for my atom d2550s because of the odd hybrid x86/x86-64 systems they are. I had to install what ended up being linux mint debian edition 5 because that was the best way to get an OS on the odd bootloader system for various reasons, then upgraded to 6 to get to the latest debian, then I installed proxmox and removed all the debian stuff.
What do I do with something as weak as a pair of D2550s? Don’t you worry about that. I’ve found uses for both. :P
It’s an unusual use case, but it’s one reason you might need to install debian before proxmox.