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Security
Proxmox Maintenance: Configuring 'No-Subscription' Repositories
R
Rodolfo Echenique
Automated Translation: This article was originally written in Spanish and translated by Gemini AI.
In the corporate environment, stability is king. That's why, at Central Node, we always recommend our clients use the Proxmox Enterprise repositories for critical production systems. However, for lab environments, testing (staging), or personal use (homelab), Proxmox offers a fantastic alternative: the repository.
no-subscriptionUpdating a hypervisor is not trivial. I have seen many environments break by mixing Debian versions (like Buster) with modern Proxmox versions. Next, we are going to configure this with surgical precision for Proxmox VE 8 (based on Debian 12 Bookworm).
The Update Flow
Before touching the console, let's understand what we are going to do. We are going to redirect the package manager to ignore the paid repositories and look in the community testing ones.
aptstyle A fill:#333,color:#fff
style E fill:#FF7F50,color:#fff
style G fill:#333,color:#fff
Step 1: Repository Hygiene
The first thing is to ensure we are not mixing apples and oranges. Proxmox VE 8 runs on Debian 12 (Bookworm). The most common error is leaving old repositories (Buster/Bullseye).
Let's edit the main file:
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
The correct content for an updated environment should look like this:
bash
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib
Actualizaciones de seguridad
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib
Proxmox VE pve-no-subscription
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription
⚠️ Central Node Warning: The repository is Proxmox's testing ground. The packages here are stable but do not have the exhaustive validation level of the Enterprise repository. Use it at your own risk in non-critical environments.
no-subscriptionStep 2: Deactivating the Enterprise Repository
By default, Proxmox tries to look for updates in the paid repository. If you don't have a license, this will generate errors (noise) in your logs. We are going to silence it correctly.
Edit (or comment out) the specific enterprise list file:
nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list
Make sure the line is commented out with a at the beginning:
## deb https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-enterprise
Step 3: GPG Key Management (No Errors)
Sometimes, when changing repositories, digital signatures don't match. If you encounter errors, it's because your system doesn't trust the packager.
NO_PUBKEYFor Proxmox VE 8 (Bookworm), the old key (6.x or release-buster) is no longer valid. We must use the modern one. If you have key problems, download and install the current official key:
wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg
Note: Always verify the checksum (sha512sum) against the official Proxmox website if you are in a high-security environment.
Step 4: The Actual Update
In Debian/Proxmox systems, is not enough because it doesn't handle kernel dependency changes well. The correct command that engineers use is or .
apt upgradedist-upgradefull-upgradeapt update && apt full-upgrade -y
Once finished, restart the server to load the new Kernel if there were updates to it:
reboot
Conclusion
Keeping your lab environment updated allows you to test the latest virtualization functionalities, LXC containers, and ZFS improvements before taking them to production.
Remember: A SysAdmin who doesn't update their lab is a SysAdmin who fears the future.
Do you need guaranteed stability?
If managing updates, backups, and high availability in Proxmox takes time away from your business, at Central Node we take care of your infrastructure.
We secure your servers so you only have to worry about growth.
Linux Infraestructura IT SysAdmin DevOps Central Node Networking Troubleshooting Proxmox VE Debian Bookworm Virtualización Homelab Servidores Actualización Seguridad Open Source ZFS LXC Hypervisor