[pve-devel] [PATCH] Improvement for pve-installation

Thu Sep 29 07:58:06 CEST 2016

A general (technical) remark:

your edits seem to not have been based on current master, but the patch
is. So this either requires a cleanup on/after applying or a v2 ;)

There are two affected/reverted changes in pve-installation.adoc:
- all the recent 'text' to `text` conversions are reverted in your
  edited parts
- the "Advanced LVM Configuration Options" header is wrongly capitalized

See 'git log -p 128b18c0e58d73e6bc8c0acc0f12515658edf1d0.. --
pve-installation.adoc' for details.

On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 08:45:34PM +0000, friedrich.ramberger wrote:
> From: fritz <f.ramberger at proxmox.com>
> 
> Signed-off-by: fritz <f.ramberger at proxmox.com>
> ---
>  local-zfs.adoc        |   1 +
>  pve-installation.adoc | 125 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------
>  2 files changed, 67 insertions(+), 59 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/local-zfs.adoc b/local-zfs.adoc
> index 9b682b9..421340f 100644
> --- a/local-zfs.adoc
> +++ b/local-zfs.adoc
> @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
> +[[zfs_on_linux]]
>  ZFS on Linux
>  ------------
>  include::attributes.txt[]
> diff --git a/pve-installation.adoc b/pve-installation.adoc
> index e389d11..83992ea 100644
> --- a/pve-installation.adoc
> +++ b/pve-installation.adoc
> @@ -1,38 +1,36 @@
> -Installing Proxmox VE
> ----------------------
> +Installing {pve}
> +----------------
>  include::attributes.txt[]
>  
> -{pve} ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can simply install it
> -on top of a normal Debian installation, or download the installation
> -CD-ROM and use that to install {pve} on your hardware.
> -
> -Installing on top of an existing Debian installation looks easy, but
> -it presumes that you have correctly installed the base system, and you
> -know how you want to configure and use the local storage. Network
> -configuration is also completely up to you.
> -
> -In general, this is not trivial, especially when you use LVM or
> -ZFS. This is why we provide an installation CD-ROM for {pve}. That
> -installer just ask you a few questions, then partitions the local
> -disk(s), installs all required packages and configures the system
> +{pve} is based on Debian and comes with an installation CD-ROM which includes a complete Debian ("jessie" for {pve} 4.x)
> +system as well as all necessary {pve} packages. The
> +installer just asks you a few questions, partitions the local
> +disk(s), installs all required packages, and configures the system
>  including a basic network setup. You can get a fully functional system
> -within a few minutes, including the following:
> +within a few minutes. This is the preferred and recommended installation method.
> +
> +Alternatively, {pve} can be installed on top of an existing Debian system. This option
> +is only recommended for advanced users since detail knowledge about {pve} is necessary.
>  
> -* Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
> -* Partition the hard drive with ext4 (alternative ext3 or xfs) or ZFS
> -* {pve} Kernel with LXC and KVM support
> -* Complete toolset
> -* Web based management interface
>  
>  
>  Using the {pve} Installation CD-ROM
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  
> -This is the preferred and recommended installation method.
> +Includes the following:
> +
> +* Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
> +* Partitioning the hard drive with ext4, ext3, xfs or ZFS
> +* {pve} Kernel with LXC and KVM support
> +* Complete toolset
> +* Web based management interface
>  
>  NOTE: By default, the complete server is used and all existing data is
>  removed.
>  
> +Installation Steps
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
>  Please insert the installation CD-ROM, then boot from that
>  drive. Immediately afterwards you can choose the following menu
>  options:
> @@ -43,47 +41,62 @@ Start normal installation.
>  
>  Install Proxmox VE (Debug mode)::
>  
> -Start installation in debug mode. It opens a shell console at several
> -installation steps, so that you can debug things if something goes
> -wrong. Please press `CTRL-D` to exit those debug consoles and continue
> +Start installation in debug mode. A shell console at several
> +installation steps opens up, so that you can debug anything that went wrong.
> +Please press `CTRL-D` to exit those debug consoles and continue
>  installation. This option is mostly for developers and not meant for
>  general use.
>  
>  Rescue Boot::
>  
>  This option allows you to boot an existing installation. It searches
> -all attached hard disks, and if it finds an existing installation,
> +all attached hard disks and, if it finds an existing installation,
>  boots directly into that disk using the existing Linux kernel. This
>  can be useful if there are problems with the boot block (grub), or the
>  BIOS is unable to read the boot block from the disk.
>  
>  Test Memory::
>  
> -Runs `memtest86+`. This is useful to check if your memory if
> +Runs 'memtest86+'. This is useful to check if your memory is
>  functional and error free.
>  
>  You normally select *Install Proxmox VE* to start the installation.
> -After that you get prompted to select the target hard disk(s). The
> +Then you are prompted to select the target hard disk(s). The
>  `Options` button lets you select the target file system, which
> -defaults to `ext4`. The installer uses LVM if you select `ext3`,
> -`ext4` or `xfs` as file system, and offers additional option to
> -restrict LVM space (see <<advanced_lvm_options,below>>)
> -
> -If you have more than one disk, you can also use ZFS as file system.
> -ZFS supports several software RAID levels, so this is specially useful
> -if you do not have a hardware RAID controller. The `Options` button
> -lets you select the ZFS RAID level, and you can choose disks there.
> +defaults to `ext4`. The installer uses LVM if you select 'ext3',
> +'ext4' or 'xfs' as file system, and offers to
> +restrict LVM spaceas additional option (see <<advanced_lvm_options,below>>).
> +
> +NOTE: Usually you continue by clicking at the respective button of the GUI, but you also
> +can continue by pressing ALT+Character (where 'Character' is the 
> +letter which appears underlined in the respective button when pressing just ALT).
> +
> +You can also select 'zfs (RAIDx)' which installs <<zfs_on_linux,ZFS as filesystem>> where 'x' 
> +is one of the RAID levels 0,1,10,Z-1,Z-2,Z-3. If you have only one disk 
> +(or rather only one disk should be used for the system) only RAID0
> +is possible. If you have more than one disk you can choose the disks which should 
> +be used for the system. When using ZFS it is not recommended to use a 
> +HW RAID controller in parallel.
> +
> +NOTE: ZFS uses a lot of memory, so it is best to add an additional 8-16GB RAM
> +if you want to use ZFS.
>  
> -The next pages just asks for basic configuration options like time
> +The next pages just ask for basic configuration options like time
>  zone and keyboard layout. You also need to specify your email address
> -and select a superuser password.
> +and superuser (root) password (must have at least 5 characters).
>  
>  The last step is the network configuration. Please note that you can
>  use either IPv4 or IPv6 here, but not both. If you want to configure a
> -dual stack node, you can easily do that after installation.
> +dual stack node, you can easily do so after installation. The Hostname defaults
> +to pve.proxmox.com and should be (but does not need to be) changed to your individual one.
> +If a DHCP server is detected the received data (IP address, netmask, Gateway and DNS) 
> +are predefined as default but can be overwritten. 
> +
> +NOTE: Even when the defaults received by the DHCP server are used in the
> +finally configured system these values will be defined as static.
>  
>  If you press `Next` now, installation starts to format disks, and
> -copies packages to the target. Please wait until that is finished,
> +copies packages to the target. Please wait until this is finished,
>  then reboot the server.
>  
>  Further configuration is done via the Proxmox web interface. Just
> @@ -93,7 +106,7 @@ and higher, and Google Chrome.
>  
>  
>  [[advanced_lvm_options]]
> -Advanced LVM Configuration Options
> +Advanced LVM configuration options
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>  
>  The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called `pve`, and additional
> @@ -116,11 +129,6 @@ installed RAM, with 4GB minimum and `hdsize/8` as maximum.
>  The `root` volume size. The `root` volume stores the whole operation
>  system.
>  
> -`maxvz`::
> -
> -Define the size of the `data` volume, which is mounted at
> -`/var/lib/vz`.
> -
>  `minfree`::
>  
>  To define the amount of free space left in LVM volume group `pve`.
> @@ -130,18 +138,10 @@ NOTE: LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not
>  required for lvmthin snapshots).
>  
>  
> -ZFS Performance Tips
> -^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> -
> -ZFS uses a lot of memory, so it is best to add additional 8-16GB RAM
> -if you want to use ZFS.
> -
> -ZFS also provides the feature to use a fast SSD drive as write cache. The
> -write cache is called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL). You can add that after
> -installation using the following command:
> -
> - zpool add <pool-name> log </dev/path_to_fast_ssd>
> +`maxvz`::
>  
> +Define the size of the `data` volume, which is mounted at
> +'/var/lib/vz'.
>  
>  ifdef::wiki[]
>  
> @@ -152,19 +152,26 @@ endif::wiki[]
>  
>  ifndef::wiki[]
>  
> +
>  Install {pve} on Debian
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  
>  {pve} ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can simply install it
> -on top of a normal Debian installation.  After configuring the
> +on top of a normal Debian installation. After configuring the
>  repositories, you need to run:
>  
> -[source,bash]
>  ----
>  apt-get update
>  apt-get install proxmox-ve
>  ----
>  
> +This looks easy, presuming that you have correctly installed
> +the base system, and you know how you want to configure and use the
> +local storage. Network configuration is also completely up to you.
> +
> +In general however, this is not trivial, especially when LVM or
> +ZFS has to be used.
> +
>  You can find a detailed step by step howto on the {pve}
>  http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_Jessie[wiki].
>  
> -- 
> 2.7.4
> 
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