Proxmox Mini PC

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Sparda88
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 12, 2023 1:17 am
Location: Montréal

Proxmox Mini PC

Post by Sparda88 »

Hello,
I am writing this post to give others an idea for any mini PCs that they might not use anymore and can be repurposed. I only thought of this after the fact so my documentation might be sparse but if there are any questions or issues feel free to ask and I will look it up. Most of these have guides online and I will link the ones I found easiest to use.
This is for advanced users who do not mind deleting Windows and know how to re-install it if needed.
Off Topic
A little background:
I have the T8PRO. I thought I would use it for someone else but turns out they didn't use it so I decided to turn it into a low heat mini server. I had a tower running Home Assistant OS but that was a waste of processing power and disk space so I decided to use the mini PC with Proxmox and see how much I can save.
Recently found issue with T8PRO. See

1. Preparing: 2. Booting Mini PC:
  • Plug the USB and a keyboard into the mini PC and turn it on.
  • Immediately begin press the F10 on the keyboard until it changes to the Boot Manager.
  • Select the USB from the list. It will appear as different names depending on the USB stick used.
3. Installing Proxmox:
I do not have a spare PC to reinstall Proxmox so I am putting down what I remember for now until I can update this. Any guide on the internet will suffice.
  • I ran most things default.
  • When it asks for a domain you can put what you'd like such as proxmoxve.whateveryouwant
  • IPs are static so you will need to make sure you get the IP range from your router and make sure the IP is free.
  • If the DNS isn't automatically populated you can put down 8.8.8.8. These can be changed in the future.
4. Post-install:
  • Take out the USB stick and reboot.
  • Use another PC on your network, open a browser and connect to the IP you initially configured. The default port is 8006 so it should look like 10.0.0.100:8006
  • When logging in for the first time there is a prompt that you are not subscribed. That is normal, it still works fine.
5. Setup:
  • Run this in the Proxmox shell-

    Code: Select all

    bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/tteck/Proxmox/raw/main/vm/haos-vm.sh)"
    1. You can say yes to these. These are basically repos to get updates for Proxmox. Enterprise is paid, test have new experimental features so if you want more stability do not add this repo. If you only have 1 node then disable High availability. It can be re-enabled at any time.
  • Run the updates.
  • As a bonus, you can go into the BIOS (F2/DEL while booting) and under Boot=>Restore AC Power Loss=>Enabled to have the Mini PC turn back on after a power outage so if you are not home it will boot up. Don't forget to check "Boot on Start" in Proxmox on the VMs/Containers you want to start when Proxmox boots.
You now have Proxmox running for your personal use. If you have any kind of smart IoTs you can install Home Assistant OS on this and have the benefits of a supervisor (it helps manage updates and integrations) without using a dedicated PC for it.

6. Home Assistant1:
  • Run the following script in the Proxmox shell - bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/tteck/Proxmox/raw/main/vm/haos-vm.sh)".
  • I had it freeze the first time I ran it on 2 seperate PCs. If that happens delete the VM and run it again. It usually worked the second time.
  • Find the IP under the summary tab and connect to HA in a browser e.g http://[ip_address]:8123.
  • After making a username/password you can explore Home Assistant. It will scan your home for compatible devices.
7. Cloudflare Zero Trust:
  • Since this is just to for your own network and testing you can get a domain name for around 3$ (I got one at https://www.namecheap.com)
    for the first year. The price goes up for renewing for another year but I will just get a new one then.
  • To make this easier, I first heard of this from NetworkChuck2 on Youtube and followed that, replacing my domain for what he used.
  • After setting up Cloudflare, make a Debian container. My Debian is using 1% of CPU and 50 Mib of RAM, I gave it a bit more (512Mib) but that seems like overkill. Since containers are bare minimum you might find the curl command cannot be found. Update, upgrade and then apt install curl.
  • Create your tunnel on Cloudflare and install the package with the command provided on the page.
  • Voila, setup the IPs on the site and you can access your PCs from anywhere. If you plan on accessing your Home Assistant you will need to allow reverse proxies which would be the IP of the container3. Easily done by going to Add-ons and installing File Editor.
8. Steam Dedicated Servers:
  • Check the list of dedicated servers available4.
  • Spin up a container. Choose one that you are most familiar with. If it is your first time go with Ubuntu. Also a good choice for a desktop since it has a lot of applications that are kept up to date.
  • After updating and upgrading, install SteamCMD5. It could not find the packages automatically so it had to manually be downloaded and installed. Since this is a container, install software-properties-common before add-apt-repository.
  • If there is no guide on the steam dev page try Googling "game name dedicated server" and there should be a refence to self hosted.
  • If you want to backup the files or work on them in Windows you can turn on SSH and use WinSCP6 to transfer files easily with a GUI instead of typing out the command.
Issues:
1. T8PRO
It seems like Proxmox 8 wants to use the drivers for r8169 when the NIC is an r8168. I did not have the issue right away but eventually my T8PRO was unreachable but still on. I had to connect it to a monitor and was seeing

Code: Select all

[  127.131375] r8169 0000:01:00.0 enp1s0: rtl_ephyar_cond == 1 (loop: 100, delay: 10).
on the screen. Best follow this guide and avoid the issue altogether instead of wondering.

[1]https://community.home-assistant.io/t/i ... x-8/201835
[2]
[3]https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/http/
[4]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wik ... rvers_List
[5]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD
[6]https://winscp.net/eng/index.php
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