Proxmox: Raspberry Pi Quorum Nodes for Rockstars!

Come along with TechHeart this week as we create a Proxmox Quorum Node with a Raspberry Pi 4. This allows our 2 node Proxmox cluster to always have a quorum node even if one of the main servers has issues...

Below you'll find a command list of everything we had to do, along with other notes:

Raspberry Pi Proxmox Quorum server/node:

Use Pi Imager to burn RPiOS Lite 64bit w/ hostname=pve3, user=techheart,
password SSH ON.

apt update / upgrade
apt install vim (optional)

Turn off SSH password - add SSH keys

apt install curl

https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-static-ip-address/
set static IP - using nmtui, edit connection;
[command in above link for ip r | grep default]
10.0.0.xxx/24
10.0.0.1
nameservers from /etc/resolv.conf...

edit /etc/hosts, change pve3[hostname] line to IP address 10.0.0.xxx

sudo passwd root

Add Proxmox Ports Repository;

add GPG key -
curl -L https://mirrors.apqa.cn/proxmox/debian/pveport.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/pveport.gpg [angled bracket] /dev/null

add the repository itself [debian bookworm current correct one] -
echo "deb [arch=arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/pveport.gpg] https://mirrors.apqa.cn/proxmox/debian/pve bookworm port" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pveport.list

make sure repo is working -
sudo apt update

IF:
Get:5 https://mirrors.apqa.cn/proxmox/debian/pve bookworm InRelease [5,201 B]
Get:6 https://mirrors.apqa.cn/proxmox/debian/pve bookworm/port arm64 Packages [722 kB]

No errors = OK

Now we can begin Proxmox installation;

Proxmox uses ifupdown2 to handle the network, install it -
sudo apt install ifupdown2

Install Proxmox -
sudo apt install proxmox-ve postfix open-iscsi pve-edk2-firmware-aarch64

During install, you'll be asked to configure Postfix. Move arrow to Select,
press enter. Select the Local only option. Press enter to select hostname [pve3]

During install you may be asked to select Y/N to accept package maintainers
pveport.list config file; select N.

find local IP address;
hostname -I

Then navigate to webGUI using:
https://[IPADDRESS]:8006

Run Proxmox Helper Scripts, PVE Post Install Script IN the webGUI;
bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/tteck/Proxmox/raw/main/misc/post-pve-install.sh)"

We won't add any storage, or anything, and will inherit shared storages from our
Proxmox Cluster...

Now, on your OTHER clustered Proxmox machines - backup /etc/pve;
ssh [email protected] / 101
cd ~
mkdir some_backup_dir
sudo cp -r /etc/pve ~/some_backup_dir

Then we can add the RasPi Proxmox Proxmox server as our quorum Proxmox;

Navigate to your main Proxmox cluster webGUI
https://10.0.0.252:8006

Click on Datacenter
Click on Cluster Tab
Select Join Information, copy entire 'Join Information' to clipboard.

Navigate to RasPi Proxmox Quorum server webGUI
https://10.0.0.XXX:8006
Click on Datacenter
Click on Cluster Tab
Select Join Cluster, paste entire 'Join Information' - new fields will open up
Enter the peer address's root password
Click 'Join [CLUSTER_NAME]'

... ON your Proxmox Quorum server IP, the Join Cluster command might hang while
'Request addition of this node' - but if you navigate to MAIN Proxmox cluster
you should see 'pve3' with a green checkmark - once the 'Join Cluster' commands
status = OK, you can navigate to RasPi Proxmox Quorum webGUI, reload and you'll
be asked to allow advanced again and it will show Join Cluster = OK and the
entire cluster.

You now have a RasPi Proxmox Quorum server up and running. It should always be
a quorum node in case one other node goes down; this makes sure VMs will always
boot and run even if one of your main Proxmox nodes has a failure.

Discord @ https://discord.gg/CzEDBunf

Website @ https://techheart.life