Setting up the Proxmox Nodes

On the first page of this chapter, we defined our requirements and made some key decisions. NowNow, letslet’s setupset up the Proxmox Nodesnodes in VirtualBox and install Proxmox VE on them.

When designing a network for a Proxmox cluster, relying on a single network connection is not recommended because it can easily become saturated by different types of background traffic. To ensure cluster stability,stability youand shouldprevent configuretraffic saturation, your test environment requires a minimum of three separate network interfaces for your test environment. You will need to assign specific IP addresses for management, core sync (heartbeat), and replicationinterfaces:

Management Interface: ThisFor connection serves as the primary way tohost access and configureconfiguration. your Proxmox hosts. For this specific setup, the management interface will simply sit on your existing internal networkCluster Communication Heartbeat:(Heartbeat): The cluster communication heartbeat is essentially the lifeline of a Proxmox host. ThisIsolated traffic isfor incessant,node particularly when High Availability is enabledhealth and theHA nodesvoting. are constantly voting on the status of virtual environments. To prevent this constant chatter from bombing your main network link, the heartbeat traffic must be placed on its own isolated network segment, such as a VLAN or a physically isolated switch. VM Migration and& Storage Replication: MovingHigh-bandwidth machineslink between nodes and synchronizingfor data requiressynchronization. significant bandwidth. When you enable Storage Replication, the nodes will copy data across the network every 15 minutes. Combining this heavy file synchronization with the standard cluster chatter can quickly saturate a single network link, which might cause the system to incorrectly determine that cluster nodes are offline. Therefore, setting up an additional, dedicated interface specifically for VM migration and storage replication is required.

Note: While dedicating a network segment for NAS storage is also a highly recommendedbest practice in production environments,production, it is excluded from the scope of this specific virtualized test exercise.

Creating the Master Virtual Machine (Hardware Mode)

To avoid missing importantcritical settings andor having to startrestart over,the process, it is recommended to build a single VirtualBox Virtual Machine (VBVM) to act as a template. You can name this master image "proxtpl"proxtpl so that it staysremains at the bottom of your VM list. Ensure that you never actually start up the master image; it should alwaysmust remain powered off.

NameName: theproxtpl master VM "proxtpl" so it appears at the bottom of your VM list.Set it toType: Linux, Debian 64bit(64-bit) Set RAM toRAM: 2 GB minimum (4 GB or 6 GB areis betterrecommended if youyour have)host hardware allows). Storage (SATA0): Create a 32 GB SATA0 boot drive wherefor we will installthe Proxmox to.installation. Storage (SATA1 & SATA2): Create two 32 GB dynamically allocated disks.disks; SATA1 and SATA2these will be used for ourthe ZFS storage pool. You canmay also go foruse 64 GB if you have sufficient space. Boot Order: Adjust the storage available.Change boot-order andto set HARDHard Disk first and Optical second. MakeOptical sureDrive: to mountMount the Proxmox ISOISO. toNetwork theAdapters: optical drive.Attach 3 networkadapters: adapters:

nic0 -nic0: BRIDGED (managementManagement interface) nic1 -nic1: HOST-ONLY (clusterCluster interface / coreCore sync) and— disableDisable DHCP nic2 -nic2: HOST-ONLY (replicationReplication / migrationMigration interface) and— disableDisable DHCP Before finishing, make sure to change boot order as the clones will be booted in headless-mode and forgetting to eject virtual CD-ROM is annoying.

Once doneconfigured, youyour setup should have somethinglook like this:

Once the master is configured, makecreate three clones ofand it, namingname them prox01, prox02, and prox03.

Installing Proxmox VE (Software Mode)

With your three clones created, start them up to begin the installation process.installation.

Ignore KVM Virtualization errors: You will likely see an error stating that KVM Virtualization is not detected,detected. whichThis is expectedexpected, sinceas VirtualBox may not pass itVT-x/AMD-V instructions through to the PVE Linux environment.guest. This is not aan problemissue becausefor this lab, as the test cluster will run Linux Containers (LXC) instead of full VMs. Pay close attention toVerify hostnames: Ensure you correctly name each node (e.g., prox01.local, prox02.local, prox03.local) during setup,setup. as fixingRenaming a misnamed node after thea cluster is builtestablished is a complex and difficult procedure. Select the 32GB boot drive for the installation.installation target. Configure sequential IP addressesaddresses: basedBase these on the hostnames to makesimplify management easier (e.g., prox1prox01 – 192.168.10.201, prox2prox02 – 192.168.10.202, prox3prox03 – 192.168.10.203). Network Settings: Set the Netmask to 255.255.255.0 or in use CIDR notation (e.g., 192.168.10.101/201/24). in the previos step.Gateway: Set Gatewaythis to your networksnetwork's gateway.gateway, Mostlymost likely something like 192.168.10.1. DNS Server: Set DNS Serverthis to your networkslocal DNS configuration.configuration, Mustalso likely also 192.168.10.1. Finalize: After the installation is complete,installation, shut down the hosts and reboot them in headless mode. This is where the boot order change from earlier comes in handy.

Unfold to see predefined IP Configuration

Remember the IP Configuration from the Overview-Page:

{{@387#bkmrk-node-1%3A-nic0-192.168}}

After the reboot, you should be able to access the web interface on port 8006.8006 (HTTPS). You will likely be prompted to accept ana unsecured or unknownself-signed certificate. AfterOnce acceptingyou accept the security risk, you should see something similar to the screenshotProxmox below.dashboard.

About the Network Interface Design

A successful Proxmox cluster requires careful network segregation to prevent traffic saturation. At a minimum, you will need three separate network interfaces for your VirtualBox test cluster:

Management Interface: This interface connects to your internal network and serves as the primary way to access and manage the Proxmox hosts. Cluster Communication Heartbeat: This interface acts as the lifeline for the Proxmox hosts to communicate. It must be placed on its own isolated network segment (or physically isolated switch) because the constant cluster chatter"chatter" and High Availability (HA) voting can easily overwhelm a shared network link. VM Migration & Storage Replication: A dedicated interface is needed for migrating machines and handling Storage Replication, which copies data across nodes every 15 minutes. Combining this heavy file synchronization traffic with standard cluster communication can quickly saturate a single network connection.connection, potentially leading to false-positive node failures.