5 cool Proxmox projects you should check out if you're into coding

Published Oct 12, 2024

Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with his head stuck inside a PC or tinkering with a server operating system. Besides computing, his interests include spending hours in long RPGs, yelling at his friends in co-op games, and practicing guitar.

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Summary

Proxmox is versatile for both DIY enthusiasts and coding experts, supporting ZFS pools, LXC containers, and KVM virtual machines.
Deploy your own web server to learn coding, networking, and troubleshooting skills with LAMP or Flask options.
Proxmox serves as a solid platform for various projects, from running web servers to deploying container management tools.

Proxmox is immensely popular in the home lab community. Built on Debian, this amazing virtualization tool combines an easy-to-navigate UI with support for ZFS pools, LXC containers, and KVM-powered virtual machines.

But that doesn’t mean Proxmox is only good for DIY enthusiasts. Even if you’re more on the coding side, there are plenty of useful projects you can run on your Proxmox machine.

I tried using Proxmox’s biggest rival, XCP-ng, and here's how it went

XCP-ng may not be perfect home lab owners, it's still a decent virtualization platform if you want something like VMware's ESXi

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By Ayush Pande

Oct 7, 2024

5 Deploy your own web server

LAMP or Flask: Pick your poison

A Flask-based web server running on the Raspberry Pi 5

If you’re planning to get into web development, deploying a web server can help hone your coding, networking, and troubleshooting abilities. From creating individual web pages to opening the specific ports on your router, self-hosting a web server can teach you a lot about the inner workings of running your own website.

Depending on your programming background, there are a couple of different approaches you can take for this project. For PHP lovers, you can build a LAMP server with the help of Apache2 and MySQL databases. Meanwhile, Python aficionados could look into setting up a simple Flask server.

4 Self-hosted Code Server

A centralized coding environment for your programming needs

Ever wanted to run your very own code editor from your web browser? Turns out, there are a couple of ways to do so. For a pure self-hosted arrangement, you can try installing Code-Server inside a Linux distro by running this command:curl -fsSL https://code-server.dev/install.sh | sh. While this server works incredibly well for the most part, the only drawback is that it doesn’t support Microsoft's extension marketplace.

So, if you need all the extra plugins, you can install VS Code inside your preferred Proxmox VM and use remote explorer alongside the remote SSH extension to gain access to your programs and repos when you’re away from your home lab.

3 Familiarize yourself with Ansible and Terraform

A great way to get started on your sysadmin/DevOps journey

Running an Ansible container inside Proxmox

Ansible and Terraform are two of the most popular VM automation tools in the DevOps industry. Unfortunately, their steep learning curve can make it a tad too difficult for novice sysadmin learners to pick them up.

But once you get familiar with Proxmox, you can use that knowledge to get a leg up on your Ansible/Terraform journey. Heck, you can run them with Proxmox to get familiar with the process of VM provisioning straight from the web UI.

2 Dedicated VMs for Docker, Kubernetes, Podman, and Containerd

Containers, containers, and even more containers!

Containerization is an indispensable aspect of self-hosting, and there are plenty of runtime environments that let you deploy containers for your favorite services. Whether you’re a newcomer getting the hang of composing your own Docker containers using yml files or an experienced veteran looking to test your mettle withKubernetes, Proxmox serves as a solid testing ground for your container experiments.

Thanks to KVM, you can deploy separate virtual machines for all your container management tools. Combine that with the support for LXC containers and a myriad of TurnKey templates, and you can turn your Proxmox into a powerful hub for your containerized projects.

1 Run an isolated Kali Linux instance

The perfect pen-testing playground

A screenshot of the package manager in Kali Linux

As the most prominent operating system in the hacking and penetration testing landscape,Kali Linux has all the tools you’ll ever need to become a cybersecurity maestro. However, not everyone would be willing to install Kali Linux on their daily driver, especially if you’re using the OS to test security vulnerabilities.

Of course, running Kali Linux as a virtual machine doesn’t necessarily make your host immune to the more advanced malware that can launch payloads targeting the underlying hardware. But you can take a couple of hardening measures, including SSH encryption, separate VLANs, and custom firewall rules, to mitigate the security risks. Plus, it’s always easy to nuke your old Kali Linux virtual machine and spin up a new one in case things go wrong during your experiments.

Building the perfect coding workspace with Proxmox

If you’re still on the fence about setting up Proxmox, it’s worth noting that you can whip up this virtualization platform on pretty much any device. While Iwouldn’t advise installing it on underpowered Raspberry Pi boards, you should be fine with most x86 systems. Thanks to its Type-1 hypervisor roots, Proxmox effectively serves as a laboratory where you can experiment with and break VMs without any real-world consequences.

What’s more, you don’t have to be a DIY god to run some essential services on Proxmox. With just a little patience, you can easily configure your ownsurveillance hub,document manager, media server, and a ton of other useful services on this amazing platform.