Free tool
Plan your Proxmox cluster network before you install.
Proxmox wants every node installed with its final hostname and IP, because you can't change them once the cluster exists. Fill in your nodes, ports and networks below. You get the address plan and a risk check against the Proxmox recommendations straight away, and you can download the whole thing as a pre-filled Excel planner.
Risk check
Fix every Problem before you install. Decide on every Warning: fix it, or accept it on purpose. Based on the Proxmox VE docs (Cluster Manager, Deploy Hyper-Converged Ceph Cluster), checked November 2026.
Checks that passed
Your planner, filled in
Get my planner
Download this design as an Excel workbook that also opens in LibreOffice and Google Sheets. It adds everything you need on install day:
- An installer card per node: exactly what to type on the network screen
- A paste-ready
/etc/network/interfacesfor every node - The
/etc/hostsblock, cluster create and join commands, and Ceph init - Jumbo frame and Corosync latency tests
- The build checklist, including the failure tests most people skip
Your planner is ready
Change something above and download again any time. The welcome email has a link back to this exact design.
Check the generated network config before you apply it, and keep console access (a monitor or KVM) ready when you do. A typo there can cut you off from the node.
Your design stays in your browser. It's saved in this page's link, never on my server. How the planner handles data.
Build notes
The cluster this is based on
The example values come from my own three-node Proxmox and Ceph cluster in a 10-inch rack. Here's the hardware and the notes I wish I'd had before I built it.
The hardware build post → The install post → The network design post →
Parts list
| Part | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 3x Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny | Cluster nodes | i5-9400T, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe each. Quiet, cheap second-hand, and they take a PCIe riser. |
| YuanLey YS-X540-2T dual 10GbE NIC | Per node, via the nandfarm M720q/M920q riser | One port for Ceph, one for everything else. The reason the cluster does not need LACP. |
| DeskPi RackMate DP-0082 | 10-inch rack | The black one. Rack trays and mounts for the Tinies are 3D-printed in PETG after the PLA ones softened in the summer heat. |
| GL.iNet Comet X | KVM over IP | Fills the top U of the rack. The whole cluster was installed through it without ever plugging in a monitor. |
| XikeStor SKS8300-8T | 10GbE switch | Eight 10GbE ports, two per node. Sits on a sloped tray above the nodes. |
| 1U PDU, four sockets | Power | The three node power bricks live inside the rack behind the nodes, so the whole rack needs one power cable. |
| 3D-printed node cradles | Mounting | Print them in PETG. My PLA ones softened in the summer heat. |
The full list with current prices is on my Amazon list (affiliate link, costs you nothing extra).
Rack build order
- Sort the screws by length before you start. They look alike and the manual calls for a specific one at every step.
- Check every corner of the side frames is square while tightening. A frame that's slightly off makes the panels hard to slide in later.
- Don't overtighten the handles, they screw straight into the acrylic.
- Dry-fit every tray and cradle before you screw in the first device.
- Fit the switch tray first. In my build it had to go in before the nodes, so everything came out again.
- Put the power bricks behind the nodes and plug them into the PDU.
- Leave the top slot free if you plan a KVM over IP.
Install tips the planner doesn't cover
- Wipe the NVMe disks before you start (
wipefs -a /dev/nvme0n1). An old partition table is what gave me a 1 KB OSD. - Mount the Proxmox ISO through the KVM as virtual USB, or boot from a stick.
- After the first boot, switch to the free repositories (the community post-install script does this).
- When a node joins, "Authentication failed" right after the join is normal, just log in again.
- Set the OSD device class to NVMe by hand if it's detected wrong.
- Create a pool for VM disks and CephFS for ISOs and templates, then disable local storage so nothing lands on one node by accident.
- Attach Proxmox Backup Server, restore a real VM onto Ceph as a test, and schedule a nightly backup job.
Real certificates on internal nodes
- Datacenter, ACME: register a Let's Encrypt account.
- Add the Cloudflare DNS plugin with an API token that can only edit DNS on that one zone.
- Per node, System, Certificates, ACME: add the node's full name and order the certificate.
- Open the node by name afterwards, not by IP, or the browser will refuse the certificate.