Headless Ubuntu 20.04 VM Options? reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Senkyou · 2023-12-29 05:26 In an effort to both expand and minimize impact to my homelab, and since this device is remote and I don't want to run something with a high risk of downtime, what sort of software should I be looking into to run VMs headless? I'm perfectly comfortable getting to know the command line to perform this task. I'm running Ubuntu 20.04 If any options exist out there that I may use to both expand my homelab and even improve my professional abilities, I would be thrilled to explore them. I have dipped my toe into headless VirtualBox, but I want to be sure that I understand my options before committing to something. To list my requirements: \- Headless. \- Ubuntu 20.04. \- Relatively low risk as my device is remote (not a dealbreaker). Thanks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1A655A9CEC05B28E04 · 2023-12-29 05:31 I run Proxmox for all of my remote servers. Proxmox never goes down and if any of my VM's go down, I can restart them directly in the Proxmox GUI ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Senkyou · 2023-12-29 05:36 Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was my understanding that you installed Proxmox as its own deal. Can you install it on top of Ubuntu? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ButCaptainThatsMYRum · 2023-12-29 05:44 What even is your question? If you want Ubuntu headless in a vm just install Ubuntu server, the server version of Ubuntu..... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Senkyou · 2023-12-29 05:46 Perhaps I wasn't clear. I stated that I'm running Ubuntu 20.04. Meaning I have a server right now with Ubuntu 20.04 installed and ticking away. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ButCaptainThatsMYRum · 2023-12-29 05:48 That's nice. What's your question? Your title is "Ubuntu headless vm", to which just use Ubuntu server. If you're looking at a hypervisor then just use Ubuntu server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Senkyou · 2023-12-29 05:50 Sounds like you've got it, I'm not sure if I've said something wrong. All I'm asking, as you've indicated, is what options exist to host VMs on a headless Ubuntu 20.04 box. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ButCaptainThatsMYRum · 2023-12-29 05:52 Any hypervisor you want? Your question is extremely ambiguous and low effort. If you're looking for a hypervisor then just Google it, but most people these days use proxmox (a headless Debian os with probably 50,000+ posts a year on their subreddit), hyperv, or sometimes VMware/esxi. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lesigh · 2023-12-29 05:56 I recommend you use proxmox on bare metal and use Ubuntu server as a guest vm for your docker services ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Senkyou · 2023-12-29 06:04 Eventually I may shift to this approach, but for the time being I'm just checking into options that can be hosted on Ubuntu, should any exist. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- root_switch · 2023-12-29 06:46 Check out qemu and kvm. It’s a hypervisor that works well on Ubuntu and you can spin up VMs on a headless server using the command line. I’ve been running this on my server for over 6+ years. Everything I do such as snapshots or new VMs are all through command line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1A655A9CEC05B28E04 · 2023-12-29 07:02 No but you can install Ubuntu in a VM and forward all traffic to the Ubuntu VM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kmisterk · 2023-12-29 09:24 ProxMox as a base "OS" (sort of a hypervisor built on top of a Debian system. Most will even tell you to start with Debian Server and then install ProxMox over the top of it) Then, use various OS's at your leisure to play around with. The set-up process of ProxMox can be daunting, but there's plenty of videos and guides out there to get you started. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- uprightanimal · 2023-12-29 16:54 I read this as "I have a Ubuntu server already, and I would like to run VM guests on it without having to use a local display and keyboard. I don't want to build a second server to do this." If that's accurate, then you can use your current Ubuntu server as a KVM hypervisor, in addition to whatever it's already doing. You can manage the guests via an SSH session using included tools. There may be some web-server based GUI options.