Recent content by jdancer

Missing the the '-N/--no-hostonly' option for dracut which loads all drivers for initrd. This is my procedure way back migrating from ESXi to Proxmox https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/debian-11-not-booting-with-virtio-scsi-single-but-works-with-vmware-pvscsi.144806/post-652170

Need to be more specific on installation issues. I have successfully installed Proxmox 9 on Dell PowerEdge R730s (all R730s are updated with latest firmware) which is equivalent to a HPE DL380 GEN9. I did have to enable X2APIC and I/OAT DMA in the UEFI/BIOS though. I use Balena Etcher to...

Just did a clean install of my Supermicro home rack server from PVE8 to PVE9. Yeah, I wait until the last minute. No worries, I've been clean installing PVE9 at work on Dell servers since PVE9 came out. Prefer clean installs. Got punked too many times with major operating system upgrades...

Been running latest version of Proxmox on Dell 10/11/12/13/14/15-gen servers without issues. These servers were previously running VMware. Just make sure to run the latest firmware (NIC, BIOS, disk controller, iDRAC, etc, etc). If going to use ZFS/Ceph, I strongly suggest swapping out the PERC...

As they say, it depends on workloads. Ceph is a scale-out solution, more nodes/OSDs = more IOPS. At least you got the right number of nodes and networking correct at the beginning. Been using Ceph Tentacle erasure-coding for some VMs workloads, it's getting there in terms of Ceph replication IOPS.

I have flashed a PERC 6 in a Dell R200 to IT-mode using Broadcom firmware using someone's web blog post. This was awhile ago. 12th-gen Dell PERC controllers (ie, H310) can be flashed to IT-mode per https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html I have these running production with no issues. Just don't...

Hardware that works in both R630 & R640, you can use the R640 firmware for the hardware on the R630. I flashed the firmware using the Dell .BIN file for RHEL & clones.

I use Dell X550/I350 rNDCs (CD2VM) wihout issues in production with the latest 7.x kernel in R630s. BIOS settings enabled options are X2APIC, I/OAT DMA, UEFI, and Secure Boot. I do NOT have SR-IOV enabled. I did flash the Dell version 23.0.0 Intel X550/I350 firmware on the rNDCs. YMMV.

Since Proxmox is Debian with an Ubuntu LTS kernel, it's reliable enough. Have it running on a Dell Latitude 5421 with no issues.

Been migrating Dell VMware clusters running SAS HDDs over to Proxmox Ceph. As you know, Ceph is a scale-out solution. More nodes/OSDs = more IOPS. These Dells are 2U 16-drive bay servers. Use 2 small SAS drives to mirror Proxmox using ZFS RAID-1. Rest of drives are OSDs. Servers are running...

Been migrating Dell VMware clusters over to Proxmox Ceph clusters. As with VMware, Ceph really, really wants homogeneous hardware, ie, same CPU, memory, storage, storage controller, firmware, networking. While it's true, 3-nodes is the minimum for quorum, you really want 5-nodes, so can lose...

If you know you will never expand this 3-node cluster, I suggest using a full-mesh broadcast network. This eliminates a switch and every node will drop packets not addressed to it. Promox has a KB on it at pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Full_Mesh_Network_for_Ceph_Server#Broadcast_Setup While not...

At work, been migrating 13th & 14th-gen Dell VMware clusters over to Proxmox Ceph. Swap out the PERC RAID controllers for Dell HBA330s IT-mode controllers, since Ceph/ZFS don't work with RAID controllers. If I was buying new, I will go with single-socket high-core CPUs (64/96/128/etc), like AMD...

As you know, ZFS & Ceph really don't play nice with RAID controllers like Dell PERCs. While it's true you change the PERC from RAID mode to IT-mode, I've had issues in the past with the megaraid_sas driver. That's why I switch out Dell PERCs for Dell HBAs, like the Dell HBA355i. It uses the...

On 13th- & 14th-gen Dells PERCs, have to delete the virtual disks before switching it to HBA-mode. Call it a quirk. I've also had issues with the megaraid_sas driver in the past, so I just swap out the PERCs for Dell HBA330s, which is a true IT-mode strorage controller. It uses the much simpler...