The Proxmox Setup (Intermediate)
Proxmox is the right middle path for a Builder with some intermediate-level skill. If you're not quite ready for this, no worries! You can get solid results with the more user-friendly Unraid setup, and if ever you need more, come back here when you're ready. On the other hand, if you're needing more power and customization options, check out the more advanced Docker guide.
Where this fits with the other guides
Unraid is the gentle ramp - one box, click-ops, and fast progress.
Proxmox (this guide) is your intermediate rigor - real hypervisor, clean templates, backups that scale, optional SDN and Ceph when you grow.
Docker Advanced is your orchestration and portability brain - stack definitions that jump across hosts without caring which hypervisor you picked.
Notes on versions and recency
This guide targets Proxmox VE 9.0 and Proxmox Backup Server 4.0 as released the week of August 5–6, 2025. If you are starting from 8.x, follow the official upgrade path and Ceph steps before moving to 9.0. (Proxmox docs)
Builder Intro & Master Resource Table - Proxmox
Proxmox is the right middle path for a Builder with some intermediate-level skill: bare-metal performance with KVM and LXC, first-class ZFS and Ceph, quick VM templating with cloud-init, and sane web UI for almost everything. PVE 9.0 brings Debian 13, a newer 6.14 kernel, and SDN Fabrics - if you decide to cluster later, the underlay is ready to scale (
Proxmox Technical Summary & Documentation
A Builder’s technical guide to Proxmox VE as a self-hosted AI + homelab platform.
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