Deploying a Proxmox VE Cluster for the Homelab

Introduction

Establishing a robust virtualization layer is the foundational step in any serious homelab deployment. This document outlines the configuration of a three-node Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) cluster utilizing Ceph for distributed storage.

Hardware Specifications

Each node in the cluster is provisioned with the following specifications:

• CPU: AMD EPYC 7302P (16C/32T)
• RAM: 128GB DDR4 ECC
• Storage (OS): 2x 512GB NVMe (ZFS Mirror)
• Storage (Data): 4x 4TB SATA SSD (Ceph OSDs)

Network Configuration

Proxmox requires strict network segmentation for optimal performance. We utilize Linux Bridges (vmbr0 for management, vmbr1 for VM traffic) and dedicate a 10GbE link exclusively for Ceph cluster communication.

# Example network interface configuration
auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
    address 192.168.1.10/24
    gateway 192.168.1.1
    bridge-ports enp1s0
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0