Last updated Jun 3, 2026

Proxmox Host Preparation#

This covers the minimal steps on the Proxmox host before creating any VMs or LXCs.

Update the system#

After installing Proxmox VE, update it fully before doing anything else:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

No additional Proxmox plugins or repositories are needed for this setup.

The default bridge vmbr0 is used for all LXCs and VMs. Verify it is connected to your main LAN interface:

Go to Proxmox UI → Node → Network and confirm vmbr0 shows your physical interface as its bridge port.

All LXCs and VMs in this setup use vmbr0. No VLAN configuration is required.

Before creating the ZFS pool, identify which disks will be used for data:

lsblk

Or check in the Proxmox UI under Node → Disks.

Make sure the data disks are empty. Any existing data will be destroyed when the ZFS pool is created.

Keep the system disk (Proxmox OS) separate from data disks.

Only needed if you plan to use hardware transcoding in Plex.

1. Enable IOMMU in BIOS

2. Enable IOMMU in the Proxmox kernel

Edit /etc/default/grub and add intel_iommu=on (or amd_iommu=on) to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on iommu=pt"

Then update grub and reboot:

update-grub
reboot

3. Verify

After reboot:

dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU

You should see lines indicating IOMMU is enabled. The actual GPU passthrough configuration happens later in the Plex LXC step.

At this point: