---
title: How to deploy a virtual load balancer in Proxmox
description: "## Prerequisites - **Proxmox VE Environment**: - Ensure Proxmox VE is installed and operational. - Have access to the **Proxmox web interface** or CLI. - **Load Balancer Virtual Appliance**: - Download the virtual load balancer image in **QCOW2**, **RAW**, or…"
url: "https://www.relianoid.com/resources/knowledge-base/howtos/how-to-deploy-a-virtual-load-balancer-in-proxmox/"
updated: "2026-01-16"
category: "Howto's"
---

# How to deploy a virtual load balancer in Proxmox

## Prerequisites

- **Proxmox VE Environment**:
  - Ensure Proxmox VE is installed and operational.
  - Have access to the **Proxmox web interface** or CLI.
- **Load Balancer Virtual Appliance**:
  - Download the virtual load balancer image in **QCOW2**, **RAW**, or **ISO** format (e.g., RELIANOID, HAProxy, NGINX Plus, or another appliance).
- **Resources**:
  - Sufficient CPU cores, RAM, and storage for the virtual load balancer.
- **Networking**:
  - Pre-configured Proxmox Linux bridges (e.g., **vmbr0**, **vmbr1**).
  - Static IP address for management access.
- **Permissions**:
  - Administrator access to Proxmox VE.

## Step 1: Access the Proxmox Environment

1. Log in to the **Proxmox web interface**.
2. Select the target Proxmox node.
3. Verify available resources and node health.

## Step 2: Create a New Virtual Machine

1. Click **Create VM** in the Proxmox interface.
2. Assign a **VM ID** and name (e.g., **LB-Proxmox-01**).
3. Click **Next**.

## Step 3: OS and Installation Media

1. Select the installation method:
   - Attach an **ISO** image.
   - Or plan to import an existing disk image.
2. Click **Next**.

## Step 4: System Configuration

1. Select BIOS type:
   - **SeaBIOS**
   - **OVMF (UEFI)** if supported by the appliance
2. Select machine type (default recommended).
3. Click **Next**.

## Step 5: Disk Configuration

1. Create or attach a virtual disk.
2. Select storage backend (LVM, ZFS, Ceph, etc.).
3. Choose disk format:
   - **QCOW2**: Supports snapshots.
   - **RAW**: Higher performance.
4. Click **Next**.

## Step 6: CPU and Memory

1. Assign the number of CPU cores.
2. Allocate sufficient RAM.
3. Enable NUMA if required.
4. Click **Next**.

## Step 7: Configure Networking

1. Attach the network interface to a Linux bridge:
   - **vmbr0** for management or frontend traffic.
   - Additional bridges for backend or sync networks.
2. Select network model (e.g., **VirtIO**).
3. Click **Next**.

## Step 8: Finalize Virtual Machine Creation

1. Review the VM configuration summary.
2. Click **Finish** to create the virtual machine.
3. Start the VM.

## Step 9: Initial Configuration of the Load Balancer

### Access the Virtual Appliance

1. Open the VM console from the Proxmox interface.
2. Identify the management IP address (DHCP or static).
3. Configure a static IP address if required.

### Configure Basic Settings

1. Access the appliance using SSH or a web interface.
2. Configure:
   - **Hostname**
   - **Static IP address, subnet mask, and gateway**
   - **DNS servers**
3. Apply and save the configuration.

## Step 10: Configure Load Balancer Functionality

### Backend Pool Configuration

1. Add backend servers and service ports.

### Frontend Listener Configuration

1. Define VIP (Virtual IP) addresses.
2. Specify protocols and listening ports.

### Health Checks

1. Configure TCP, HTTP, or HTTPS health checks.

### SSL/TLS Settings (if applicable)

1. Upload SSL/TLS certificates.
2. Configure SSL termination or passthrough.

### Load Balancing Algorithms

1. Select a suitable algorithm (Round Robin, Least Connections, Hash-based).
2. Apply changes.

## Step 11: Cluster Deployment with Two Virtualized Nodes

For high availability, deploy the load balancer as a two-node cluster.

### Cluster Architecture

- Deploy two identical load balancer VMs on different Proxmox nodes.
- Ensure identical hardware allocation and network setup.
- Enable configuration and state synchronization.

### High Availability and Failover

- Configure a dedicated synchronization interface.
- Define a floating **Virtual IP (VIP)**.
- Ensure automatic failover between nodes.

### State Synchronization

- Synchronize sessions and configurations.
- Isolate sync traffic on a backend or sync network.

## Step 12: Security Architecture with IPDS and MFA

### Network-Level Security with IPDS

- Inspect and filter inbound and outbound traffic.
- Detect and mitigate DDoS attacks and protocol anomalies.
- Apply rate limiting and behavioral protection.

### Application-Level Security

- Protect against SQL injection, XSS, and malformed requests.
- Apply per-application security policies.
- Log security events.

### Authentication and Access Control with MFA

- Secure administrative access with multi-factor authentication.
- Integrate with LDAP, Active Directory, or RADIUS.
- Apply role-based access control (RBAC).

## Step 13: Testing and Validation

1. Ping the management IP address.
2. Access the frontend VIP from a test client.
3. Verify load distribution.
4. Test failover by stopping one node.
5. Review security logs.

## Step 14: Backup and Monitoring

1. Create VM snapshots using Proxmox.
2. Schedule regular configuration backups.
3. Integrate with monitoring and SIEM platforms.

By following these steps, you can deploy a secure, highly available, and production-ready virtual load balancer on Proxmox VE, suitable for modern enterprise and cloud infrastructures.

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