# Proxmox and CEPH Cluster

Hi Again 👋😊

Thanks for stopping by. [This is the part-02 of my Home Lab 2.0 series](https://fewmorewords.com/series/home-lab) where I share my thoughts around rebuilding the Home Lab.

I had some time to setup the hardware for my cluster. The newly upgraded `Dell Optiplex 7050` Microservers are now sitting on a [cheap Kmart kitchen shelf](https://www.kmart.com.au/product/white-wire-3-tier-shelf-43475780/) a.k.a my server rack. Hey, its not that bad as it serves the purpose 😊. I’m not very keen to spend on a mini rack or building one at this point of time. Unfortunately there is not enough room for my NAS with this setup, so the Synology sits on the table for now.

So, this is how it looks like at the moment. Yeah, its not the work of art what I want it to be 🫠

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1745320793944/41b07216-969c-41b0-a992-8a199439b0b9.jpeg align="center")

Once the logistics sorted out, I installed [Proxmox 8.4.1](https://www.proxmox.com/en/) on them, which is quite straightforward in these days. I have a dedicated VLAN for my Proxmox cluster with the `192.168.193.0/24` range.

<div data-node-type="callout">
<div data-node-type="callout-emoji">💡</div>
<div data-node-type="callout-text">Find a way to setup VLANs as early as possible to save yourself from limitations around security, performance and flexibility with your experimentaions. An old micro PC with dual NICs and OPNSense is a great start. I invested on a <a target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://shop.netgate.com/products/1100-pfsense" style="pointer-events: none">pfSense Plus SG-1100</a> and a <a target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://techspecs.ui.com/unifi/switching/usw-lite-16-poe" style="pointer-events: none">UniFi USW Lite 16 POE</a> switch a while back to solve this problem.</div>
</div>

Once Proxmox is installed I did the followings before anything else.

1. `apt update` and `apt upgrade` the destro
    
2. Disable the `Enterprise` repos
    
3. Add `No Subscription` repos for both `Proxmox` and `CEPH`.
    
4. Install `lm-sensors` package to get the thermal stats.
    
    ```bash
    apt-get install lm-sensors
    modprobe drivetemp
    echo drivetemp | tee -a /etc/modules
    sensors
    ```
    

After that I joined the Proxmox nodes into a cluster and setup a CEPH cluster with the NVMe drives. There are many great tutorials on [how to setup both Proxmox and CEPH and this one was very helpful.](https://youtu.be/a7OMi3bw0pQ?si=xMPMDv8cxJflNB1f) Apparently it took me more time to settle on a name for the cluster, `(proxmox-collective)` than setting it up ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯.

Right after the cluster setup, I installed `Adguard` to implement time based service blocks for the kids VLAN. It blocks some distractions during their study times.

Here are some screenshots of the current clsuter state. You can see the list of the repositories as well.

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1745325784311/b022c778-b2bb-4938-a9ea-8ee6397cb721.png align="center")

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1745325829009/4b0e997b-6bc1-49bc-b5e3-84211d7c0f71.png align="center")

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1745325908724/6c2ebacc-c79c-4b56-8d86-b013f465f855.png align="center")

Next I will setup `Traefik` as my reverse proxy. This can be easily deployed as an LXC container.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I would love to hear your thoughts!.

Until next time

\-\`♡´-