Client Overview
Our client is a successful entrepreneur in the restaurant industry, with a side business in web hosting. The client was managing virtual machines (VMs) on a Proxmox setup but encountered challenges with auto failover when one of the Proxmox nodes failed. The existing infrastructure consisted of only 2 Proxmox nodes.
Initial Problem
The client faced an issue where, when a Proxmox node failed, the virtual machines did not automatically failover to the other node. This resulted in downtime for their web hosting business, impacting service availability.
Project Goals
The primary goal of the project was to design and implement a High Availability (HA) solution to ensure that VMs could automatically failover in case of a node failure, minimizing downtime.
Solution Design
After assessing the client’s infrastructure and discussing different approaches, we agreed to implement a Proxmox High Availability solution using the following components:
- 3 Proxmox nodes: To achieve true high availability, a minimum of 3 nodes is required. This setup provides quorum for decision-making in the cluster and ensures that VMs can be automatically moved between nodes in case of failure.
- 1 Synology NAS: This NAS acts as an NFS storage server for shared storage across the Proxmox nodes. Shared storage is essential for ensuring that VMs can run on any node in the cluster.
Implementation Steps
1. Setting Up the Proxmox Cluster
We began by setting up the 3-node Proxmox cluster. This involved installing Proxmox on each of the 3 nodes and configuring the cluster to communicate between them. Once the cluster was formed, we ensured that the quorum configuration was properly set up.
2. Configuring NFS Shared Storage
The Synology NAS was set up as an NFS storage server. The NFS share was created and configured to be accessible by all 3 Proxmox nodes. This shared storage allowed VMs to be stored in a centralized location, making them accessible to any node in the cluster.
3. Enabling High Availability for VMs
Once the cluster and shared storage were in place, we configured the high availability (HA) settings on the VMs. Each VM was set to be managed by the HA manager, allowing them to automatically failover to another node in case of a node failure.
4. Testing Failover
After the setup was complete, we conducted multiple tests to simulate node failures. These tests confirmed that when one node went down, the VMs were automatically moved to one of the remaining nodes without any manual intervention, achieving the high availability the client required.
Conclusion
By implementing a Proxmox High Availability solution using 3 Proxmox nodes and a Synology NAS for shared storage, we were able to resolve the client’s issue of VM failover. The client now benefits from a more resilient infrastructure that minimizes downtime and ensures continuous availability for their web hosting business.
This project highlights the importance of proper HA design in critical systems and demonstrates our ability to implement robust solutions tailored to client needs.
Client Review
Client: Business Owner
Feedback:
I’m very happy and satisfied with work he is very knowledgeable in his field he goes the extra mile to get things done on time
Rating: ★★★★★