Cluster creation in Proxmox VE

The Proxmox VE cluster manager pvecm is a tool to create a group of physical servers. Such a group is called a cluster. We use the Corosync Cluster Engine for reliable group communication, and such clusters can consist of up to 32 physical nodes (probably more, dependent on network latency). Kindly refer to this related guide on how to extend Proxmox Local Container Storage. In this article, you will learn about Cluster creation in Proxmox VE.

After logging in, it is now time to create our cluster. The commands below are used to create a Proxmox cluster.

Proxmox VE 4.x (and all versions above) cluster enables central management of multiple physical servers.

Note: First, install the Proxmox VE on all nodes. 

Also, make sure that each Proxmox VE node is installed with the final hostname and IP configuration.

Note: Changing the hostname and IP is not possible after cluster creation. Currently, the cluster creation has to be done on the console, you can log in to the Proxmox VE node via ssh.

Please see Fix INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE in Windows and Windows Server, How to fix Windows Boot Error 0xc0000098 (winload.efi), and Fix Veeam Proxmox VE Backup Error: Failed to prepare disk for backup.

Create Proxmox VE Cluster

Kindly Follow the steps below to create your cluster!

pvecm create <cluster_name>

The cluster does not operate on master/slave basis, but on Quorum. In order to achieve healthy cluster status, all nodes need to be online. Let’s execute the following command and create the cluster:

root@pmxvm01:~# pvecm create pmx-cluster

After cluster creation is complete, check its status by using the following command:

root@pmxvm01:~# pvecm status

Now that the cluster has been created. The next step is to add Proxmox nodes into the cluster. Securely log in to the other node and run the following command:

root@pmxvm02:~# pvecm add 192.168.1xx.1

Verify the node to ensure it is now joined with the cluster with the command below.

root@pmxvm02:~# pvecm nodes

Now let’s view the status of each node

root@pmxvm02:~# pvecm status
Quorum information
------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 12:02:05 2016
Quorum provider: corosync_votequorum
Nodes: 1
Node ID: 0x00xxx001
Ring ID: 4
Quorate: Yes
Votequorum information
----------------------
Expected votes: 1
Highest expected: 1
Total votes: 1
Quorum: 1
Flags: Quorate
Membership information
----------------------
Nodeid Votes Name

I hope you found this blog post helpful. Now you have learned about Cluster creation in Proxmox VE. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.