Proxmox 5.2 released!

Proxmox 5.2 has been released. Along with it are a bunch of significant changes, at least in my eyes.

Read the mailing list post here: https://pve.proxmox.com/pipermail/pve-devel/2018-May/031979.html

Read the condensed changelog here: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Roadmap#Proxmox_VE_5.2

Notable changes include:

  • Cloudinit GUI support
  • cluster create/join GUI support
  • Certificate management (Lets Encrypt) GUI support
  • SMB/CIFS Storage plugin
  • Show VM’s IP through qemu-guest-agent
  • create and edit roles through GUI
  • IO limits for restore operations
  • ZFS 0.7.8 (up from 0.7.2, so many bug fixes but no new features)

Personally, I’m extremely happy to see cloudinit support finally landing in Proxmox. That’s been one thing that I really miss after working with OpenStack and AWS so much. I’m in the process of testing it out.

6 Likes

I was looking forward to installing Proxmox on my old 2500k and running a pfSense and some kind of NAS in a virtualised environment. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that my i5 (alongisde with many others) does not support VT-d (only VT-x). But in order to use PCIe passthrough for the network adapter, I’d need VT-d :frowning:

The cheapest way around this is to upgrade (side-grade?) to a non-K i5-2500 or i7-2600. They’re fairly cheap these days, fully support VT-d, and stepping up to an 8 thread processor would be helpful for virtualization. Downside is you might have trouble getting Meltdown/Spectre updates from your motherboard vendor. Your motherboard might even support an Ivy Bridge i5 or i7.

I was in the same boat with my old i5-3570k, but instead opted to upgrade to a Ryzen 7.

1 Like

Well, I upgraded to a 2700X too xD, but this old PC is still lying around :smiley:
A 2500 would be roughly 50 bucks on e-bay. But if I go ahead and invest more money in this build I might as well build a new, more engery efficient one for my pfSense.

The old K-sku processors didn’t have the vt-d feature. I had a 2600k that I used for a while, and it worked just fine. I just used a bunch of v-switches to virtualize my router. (back in the day, now I’m on unifi gear)

Finally!

Need to rebuild my VM host. Been waiting for this.

2 Likes

Exactly. Just picked up an R510 and I was debating between this and oVirt. The cloud-init feature sealed it for me.

Nice, My host is a R715, dual socket.
Combined with another R715 running FreeNAS and a NetAPP 4243, all on 10GbE. Once I get it up and running I should make a video about it.

2 Likes

Sweet setup. I’d definitely check out that video. I’ve been tempted to check out disk shelves, but with 8TB drives, I don’t have a reason to yet. My video prod rate isn’t enough to justify throwing down another $2500 on disk quite yet.

Is 10GbE getting affordable enough yet? I’ve got cat6 running through my house and don’t really want to re-cable for 10GbE. I’m tempted to do server-only networking between my other hosts (couple single-socket 8c xeon workstations), but I’m not sure I’m going to need it yet since I’m probably moving in a year or two.

Was the R715 AMD?


If I weren’t so invested in making my car fast, I’d probably have significantly more server toys.

R715 is AMD.

I picked up a Force10 44+4+4 Switch. 44 Copper, 4 SFP, 4 SFP+.

I have 10G to my desktop, 10G to both R715s and 10G to the R310 running PFSense (will likely switch to OPNSense Soon)

I have an old 2950 with a couple of LAG Ports also running FreeNAS. But I’m looking to retire that machine.

We’re at that point where 10G is relatively inexpensive (<$1k) but only in limited port counts. Bigger 10G only switches are at that “prosumer” level. (>$1k)

If you pick up one of the NetApp shelves, they will connect to practically any SAS HBA. the IOM3 modules will push up to 8TB SATA drives (with required interposers) Though, we’ve yet to do that reliably. The IOM6 modules will do it reliably.

I’m still testing the NetAPP HBAs to see what they are truly capable of. (IOM6 vs IOM3)

Drivers in FreeBSD work out of the box, hence FreeNAS.

Yeah, that must be loud. I remember those back in the day…

That makes sense. I do have a couple SFP+ on the switch in my rack, I suppose I could make use of them. :thinking:

Quick check of the 'bay indicates they’re relatively affordable. I’ll definitely have to consider it when I need to upgrade. I’ll be sure to get the IOM6 then.

To clarify, we haven’t done enough tests with different HBAs to confirm or deny reliability with the IOM3s

drives are expensive, and testing takes a lot of time.

1 Like

Oh, yeah. I just burned $1k on those WD My Books so I can half-way populate the server. The disks are worth twice what the rest of the hardware is.

I’ll be posting about when I get them in. Most of these things have white-label’d HGST enterprise HE-10 disks in them.

1 Like

Any particular reason as to why you’re switching to OPNSense?

Short answer: Yes.

Long Answer: A myriad of reasons, I’ll probably put it all in a video at some point. After I get back from DreamHack Austin.

Like with many projects. They fork for a reason. Sometimes for the better… other times… not so much.

I’ve been looking at OPNSense for a bit, and I’m beginning to think it’s for the better… Yeah, I’ll make a video and do a big write up after I get back from DH…

2 Likes

I’m looking forward to it. Everyone seems seriously opinionated either way for political reasons so it’s hard to cut through the crap.

2 Likes

I’m looking forward to it as well :slight_smile: