New Primary Node

[KPE]

Hi,

I'm trying to retire my old "primary" node (node1), but as soon as I take it offline, I cannot login to the second node (node2) on the WebUI.
I have moved everything from node1 to node2, and the plan is to setup a new node (node3), when node1 is retired.

Shouldn't this be possible, and if so, what could be the cause of this lockout as soon as I take node1 offline?
I can migrate and clone between the two without problems.

 

[B.Otto]

When you take down the first node, you dont have quorum anymore. With only two nodes there, one single node doesn't have enough votes to reach majority. That's why you need at least three nodes for a proper Proxmox cluster.

If you want to stick with two nodes, it is recommended to set up a Qdevice (like on a raspi):
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cluster_Manager#_corosync_external_vote_support

 

[KPE]

Thanks, that explains.

I was about to remove node1, as described in the docs (but couldn't login - obviously).
Is it possible to break the cluster and continue with node2 only?

 

[B.Otto]

To remove a node you can follow the instructions on the same wiki page:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cluster_Manager#_remove_a_cluster_node

There is also the section 'Separate a Node Without Reinstalling' where it kinda details how you can circumvent the quorum issue by lowering the expected quorum votes with pvecm expected 1 .

 

[KPE]

I ended up separating node2, and cleaning up the corosync files afterwards.
Thanks for the advise Benedikt, worked like a charm