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Alpine Linux VM

proxmoxalpinevm

Alpine VMs are useful for lightweight workloads where you want full VM isolation but minimal overhead. Alpine idles at ~30MB RAM.

Option 1: cloud-init (preferred)

Use the Alpine cloud image with the cloud-init template approach. Download the official Alpine cloud image:

wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.19/releases/cloud/nocloud_alpine-3.19.0-x86_64-bios-cloudinit-r0.qcow2

Import and template exactly as you would a Debian cloud image.

Option 2: ISO install

Download the Alpine “virtual” ISO (stripped for VMs) from alpinelinux.org. Create a VM with VirtIO SCSI disk and VirtIO network. Boot, log in as root (no password), and run the setup script:

setup-alpine

After reboot, remove the ISO from the VM’s CD-ROM drive in the Proxmox UI.

QEMU guest agent

Alpine uses OpenRC, not systemd:

apk add qemu-guest-agent
rc-update add qemu-guest-agent default
service qemu-guest-agent start

Without the guest agent, Proxmox can’t report the VM’s IP or issue clean shutdowns.

Key Alpine differences from Debian

  • Package manager: apk add <package>
  • Init system: OpenRC (rc-update add <svc> default / service <svc> start)
  • No sudo by default — install doas or sudo: apk add doas
  • Shell: ash not bash — install bash if your scripts need it: apk add bash