Is good idea to create a cluster for 4x PVEs

[fedex03]

Hi there,

in my homelab I have 4x PCs with Proxmox installed.
Each PVE runs VM base on Windows and Linux and some containers.

I now access each individual PVE through its graphic interface.

I was reading up on clusters and wonder if it would make sense to create a cluster with my 4 PVEs?
I would not want to exploit the High Availability (HA) functionality.

What would you advise me to do?

Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[bbgeek17]

Its a home-lab - you can do and try anything.
Its not recommended to have even number of hosts in a cluster as you risk having a "split-brain". However, its a home-lab.
You can add External Quorum for best practice config https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cluster_Manager#_corosync_external_vote_support

Good luck

---

Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[fedex03]

Its a home-lab - you can do and try anything.
Its not recommended to have even number of hosts in a cluster as you risk having a "split-brain". However, its a home-lab.
You can add External Quorum for best practice config https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cluster_Manager#_corosync_external_vote_support

Good luck

---

Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

I would just like to understand if creating a cluster is more convenient to manage.

Even if it's a homelab, I wouldn't want to risk compromising all the work done as many services running on docker are for the home.

 

[leesteken]

I would just like to understand if creating a cluster is more convenient to manage.

But you'll need to have 3 nodes running at all times otherwise you cannot do anything with your VMs. Or add a QDevice and keep at least 2 nodes running.

Even if it's a homelab, I wouldn't want to risk compromising all the work done as many services running on docker are for the home.

Maybe HA is a good idea if those services are that important (so your home does not go down for more than 1 minute).

 

[bbgeek17]

I would just like to understand if creating a cluster is more convenient to manage.

Thats a completely personal preference

I wouldn't want to risk compromising all the work done as many services running on docker are for the home.

To create a cluster you will be joining one node to another. The requirement for the _joining_ node - it has to be empty. I.e. there should be no VMs or Containers on it. So if you have your nodes populated, you will need to find a strategy, ie backup/remove/join/restore. Or, perhaps, use new experimental "qm remote-migrate"

---

Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[fedex03]

Thats a completely personal preference

To create a cluster you will be joining one node to another. The requirement for the _joining_ node - it has to be empty. I.e. there should be no VMs or Containers on it. So if you have your nodes populated, you will need to find a strategy, ie backup/remove/join/restore. Or, perhaps, use new experimental "qm remote-migrate"

---

Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

Thanks for the reply.

I understand and I think now it is better to leave the homelab as is.
If I find other PC I can try to build a cluster for test.