Proxmox Deployment & Template Creation

I have a fresh Proxmox installation that now needs to be turned into a production-ready virtualization cluster. The end goal is straightforward: host several public-facing services while keeping administration simple and repeatable.

Scope of work
• Provision 4-6 Ubuntu-based guests (mix of KVM VMs or LXC containers—whichever fits best per role).
• Produce three reusable gold images: Web server template, Database server template, and Mail server template. Each must boot cleanly, auto-configure the network via DHCP or static values I supply, and be ready for apt updates.
• Expose HTTP/HTTPS and SSH to the internet. You may rely on Proxmox built-in firewall, iptables/nftables, or an nginx/HAProxy reverse proxy—whichever you judge safest. All inbound rules should be documented.
• Apply basic hardening: fail2ban, key-based SSH, and automatic security updates.
• Hand over concise step-by-step notes so I can recreate a guest or template myself later.

Acceptance criteria
1. I can browse to the sample web page served from the web template once it is cloned and started.
2. I can SSH into any new clone using a key pair I provide.
3. Cloning from each template finishes with no manual intervention and unique hostnames/IPs.
4. Your documentation reproduces the above on a clean node without guesswork.

Access will be granted via VPN or temporary public IP at kickoff. Let me know what additional details you need, and we’ll get started right away.