I have decided to give my server (Dell R710), which is probably a bit bored in the basement, a new task in the form of an experiment: Cryptomining. With XMRig, I found an OpenSource solution that is proven and feasible for a VM on Proxmox without a dedicated GPU.

I chose Fedora Server as it’s a lightweight, stable, and well-supported Linux distribution, ideal for server applications without unnecessary overhead. The decision against a graphical user interface (GUI) was based on the desire for a slim, resource-efficient environment, optimal for mining.

The detailed process, including the installation of XMRig, configuration for the mining pool, and setting up the wallet, shows how to carry out such a project from start to finish.

Given

• Dell R710 2x Quad-Core 2.93 GHz
• 16 Cores
• 186GB RAM
• 500GB Free Disk space

Requirements

For the Virtual Machine (VM) under Proxmox, I allocated a reasonable number of CPU (1 Socket) and 8 Cores whit 15 GB RAM to achieve a good balance between mining performance and system stability. 

Note: After the installation of Fedora Server 37 and XMRig, i ran the command df to find out how much diskspace is used, result is that 26% where used trough system files and around 7GB of free disk space. So for the next setup 5 GB are enough for a light version!

Resources

Monero Wallet: Code: https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/

XMRig Miner Docs: Code: https://xmrig.com/docs/miner/config

XMRig Source Code: https://xmrig.com/docs/miner

VM View under Proxmox:  

Insallation XMRig

1. Install required packages:

   sudo dnf install -y git make cmake gcc gcc-c++ libstdc++-static libuv-static hwloc-devel openssl-devel
   

2. Clone the XMRig repository:

   git clone https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig.git
   

3. Create and switch to the build directory:

   mkdir xmrig/build && cd xmrig/build
   

 

1. Run CMake and compile XMRig:

   cmake ..
   make -j$(nproc)
   

Wallet

For mining, I configured XMRig with my Monero wallet and the mining pool xmrpool.eu. The command for this is:

Get your Wallet at Monero Wallet: Code: https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/

./xmrig -o xmrpool.eu:5555 -u YOUR-WALLET-ADDRESS -p MY-MINER-NAME --donate-level 1

Replace YOUR-WALLET-ADDRESS with your wallet address and MY-MINER-NAME with a unique name. The setup was successful, and I look forward to seeing the results!