Automating DSM VM Creation on Proxmox VE with a Bash Script

About

Recently, I wanted to automate the creation of a Synology DSM VM on my Proxmox VE server. This saves time compared to manually going through the steps in the Proxmox GUI.

Note: This is for homelab test only. Do not use it for production.

Deploy VM on PVE (Walkthrough)

Make the script asks for a VMID to use for the new VM. It checks if a VM with that ID already exists, and offers to delete it if needed.

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read -p "Enter Virtual Machine ID for Synology DSM install: " VMID

if qm status $VMID &> /dev/null
then
  # Offer to delete existing VM
fi

Install unzip if it is not already present, as we’ll need it to extract the VM image later:

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if ! command -v unzip &> /dev/null; then
  apt install unzip -y
fi

Grabs the latest DSM loader image release from the GitHub API:

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version=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/fbelavenuto/arpl/releases/latest | grep -oP '"tag_name": "\K(.*)(?=")')

Specify the newversion for URL

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newversion=${version:1}

It constructs a download URL using that newversion, downloads and unzips the image:

Set up Image Directory Path

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image_folder="/var/lib/vz/template/iso/"

Gather the loader image and unzips to the specify folder:

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url="https://github.com/fbelavenuto/arpl/releases/download/$version/arpl-$newversion.img.zip"

wget $url
unzip "arpl-$newversion.img.zip" -d $image_folder
rm "arpl-$newversion.img.zip"

create the VM with qm create, using the VMID provided earlier:

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qm create "$VMID" \
  --name DSM \
  --memory 4096 \
  --sockets 1 \
  --cores 2 \
  --cpu host \
  --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 \
  --ostype l26

Command	Description
qm create “$VMID”	This uses the qm (qemu manager) command to create a VM with the ID stored in the $VMID variable.
–name DSM	Names the VM “DSM”.
–memory 4096	Allocates 4GB of RAM to the VM.
–sockets 1 –cores 2	Assigns 1 socket and 2 cores to the VM.
–cpu host	Uses the host CPU type for the VM.
–net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0	Attaches a VirtIO network interface to the vmbr0 bridge.
–ostype l26	Specifies the OS type as newer Linux kernel.

imports the image (loader) downloaded previously as the boot disk:

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image="/var/lib/vz/template/iso/arpl.img
qm importdisk "$VMID" "$image" local-lvm
qm set "$VMID" -sata0 local-lvm:vm-$VMID-disk-0
qm set "$VMID" --boot c --bootdisk sata0

Command	Description
qm importdisk “$VMID” “$image” local-lvm	Imports a disk image file specified by $image to the local-lvm storage, assigning the ID stored in $VMID to the VM.
qm set “$VMID” -sata0 local-lvm:vm-$VMID-disk-0	Sets the local-lvm storage as the source for the SATA controller at port 0, assigning the disk ID to vm-$VMID-disk-0.
qm set “$VMID” –boot c –bootdisk sata0	Sets the boot order for the VM to boot from the disk attached to the SATA controller at port 0 (sata0) and sets the boot device to the first partition of that disk (c).

also attaches a blank volume for extra storage:

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qm set "$VMID" --sata1 volume02:32

Command	Description
qm set “$VMID” –sata1 volume02:32	Sets the volume02 storage as the source for the SATA controller at port 1, assigning the disk size to 32GB.

Finally, the VM is started:

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qm start "$VMID"

The full content of the script

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#!/bin/bash
#
# Script name: pve-dsm.sh
# Author: King Tam
# Website: https://kingtam.eu.org
# Date: July 7, 2023
# Purpose: Automatic creation of DSM VM on Proxmox VE.
#

set -e

# Ask for VMID
read -p "Enter Virtual Machine ID for Synology DSM install: " VMID

# Check if VMID already exists
if qm status $VMID &> /dev/null
then
    read -p "VM $VMID already exists. Do you want to remove it? (y/n) " choice
    case "$choice" in
        y|Y )
            qm stop $VMID
            qm destroy $VMID
            echo "VM $VMID has been removed."
            ;;
        * )
            echo "Please enter a different VMID."
            exit 1
            ;;
    esac
fi

# Check if unzip is installed, install if not
if ! command -v unzip &> /dev/null; then
    echo "unzip could not be found, installing..."
    apt install unzip -y
fi

# Get latest release version from GitHub API
version=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/fbelavenuto/arpl/releases/latest | grep -oP '"tag_name": "\K(.*)(?=")')
newversion=${version:1}

# Construct download URL using latest release version
url="https://github.com/fbelavenuto/arpl/releases/download/$version/arpl-$newversion.img.zip"

# Download and extract arpl image
wget $url
image_folder="/var/lib/vz/template/iso/"
unzip "arpl-$newversion.img.zip" -d $image_folder
rm "arpl-$newversion.img.zip"


# Create virtual machine
qm create "$VMID" --name DSM --memory 4096 --sockets 1 --cores 2 --cpu host --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --ostype l26

# Import arpl image as boot disk
image="/var/lib/vz/template/iso/arpl.img"
qm importdisk "$VMID" "$image" local-lvm
qm set "$VMID" -sata0 local-lvm:vm-$VMID-disk-0
qm set "$VMID" --boot c --bootdisk sata0

# Add a new SATA disk to the virtual machine
qm set "$VMID" --sata1 volume02:32

# Start the virtual machine
qm start "$VMID"

Configuring the Loader

The loader (Automated Redpill Loader) automatically detects which device is being used, SATADoM or USB, detecting its VID and PID correctly.

Open VM Console by PVE

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We can access the loader via a browser.

In this case that the URL is http://10.1.1.73:7681

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Now the loader has been built, and the details are as follows

Option	Value
Model	DS918+
Build Number	42218
IP	10.1.1.73

Install DSM

Install using a web browser.

Open a web browser on a computer and go to http://10.1.1.73:5000

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According to previous built information, then manual down the DSM OS via Download Center

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Conclusion

That’s it! The script now automatically creates a DSM VM on Proxmox VE, configured and ready to go. Finally, I greatly appreciate and thank fbelavenuto’s loader and Jun’s code.

Automated Redpill Loader

About#

Deploy VM on PVE (Walkthrough)#

The full content of the script#

Configuring the Loader#

Install DSM#

Conclusion#

Related#

About

Deploy VM on PVE (Walkthrough)

The full content of the script

Configuring the Loader

Install DSM

Conclusion

Related