Understand your Proxmox VDS and complete your first login

A By-Hoster Proxmox VDS is a virtual dedicated server with Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) preinstalled. You therefore have your own hypervisor for creating and managing QEMU/KVM virtual machines and, where the configuration allows, LXC containers.

What is the difference between a VDS, Proxmox and a VM?

The VDS is the server delivered to you, Proxmox VE is the platform installed on it, and a VM is a machine created inside Proxmox.

• The VDS is the server delivered by By-Hoster. It has its own CPU, RAM and storage resources.
• Proxmox VE is the management platform installed on this VDS.
• A VM is a machine that you create in Proxmox. It uses part of the VDS resources and runs its own Linux or Windows system.

You are responsible for sharing resources between Proxmox and your VMs. Do not allocate 100% of the available RAM, storage or cores: keep a margin for the hypervisor, backups and load peaks.

What information do I receive when the VDS is delivered?

Once your order has been validated, you receive:

• the primary IP address of the VDS;
• the URL of the Proxmox VE interface;
• the administrator username and initial password;
• the SSH details;
• the installation status.

Proxmox may still be finishing its setup for a few minutes after the service has been activated. If the interface does not respond immediately, wait until the customer area shows that setup is complete before changing the configuration.

How do I log in to the Proxmox VE interface?

From your VDS page in the customer area, or directly on port 8006 of the server’s IP address.

1. Open your VDS page under Customer area > My services.
2. Click the Proxmox link or open https://VDS_IP:8006.
3. Accept the browser warning if the initial certificate is self-signed. Always check that the IP address displayed is that of your service.
4. Log in with the credentials supplied on delivery. The authentication realm is usually Linux PAM for the system account provided.
5. Promptly replace the initial password with a long, unique password.

How do I connect to my VDS over SSH?

From Linux, macOS or PowerShell:

ssh root@VDS_IP

Use the credentials supplied on delivery. After your first login, switch to an SSH key, and only disable password authentication once you have checked in a second session that the key works.

What should I check before creating my first VM?

Five points: the node online, free storage space, the public bridge active, updates, then your naming and backup rules.

Before creating a VM:

1. Check under Datacenter > your node that the node is online.
2. Check the space available on local storage.
3. Check that the public network bridge, usually vmbr0, exists and is active.
4. Install the stable updates suited to your Proxmox version.
5. Define a naming convention for your VMs and a backup strategy.

Important: the primary IP is used to manage the VDS. To expose a VM to the Internet properly, order an additional IP from the service’s Network tab and use exactly the virtual MAC assigned to it.

What is the next step after the first login?

You can now import an ISO image and create your first virtual machine. To publish this VM on the Internet, continue with the guide to additional IPs and virtual MACs.