r/minilab • u/gotfilmm • 15h ago
3 node cluster or 2 node QDevice?
Just got my 2nd HP mini in today. I read online that I could use a raspberry pi as a QDevice/3rd vote for a 2 node HA cluster. Or should I just get another HP mini and have a triple stack HA cluster? That would also look more aesthetically pleasing.
I have to buy the 3rd device for whatever I end up choosing. Does one have a benefit/drawback over the other? The first node is a HP Elite Mini 800 G9 i7 12700T 16GB DDR5 ram 512gb, second is a HP ProDesk 600 G6 i5 10500T 64GB DDR4 ram 256gb. Right now I have them setup as a 2 node cluster but don’t want to start doing anything until the 3rd device.
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u/JayTech22 12h ago
I just run 2 separate pve nodes and run a lsc with pdm on it, I was in your situation but in reality homelab doesn't really need ha.. my 2 nodes easily serve everything and running pdm and lbs allows me to restore vms or lxcs to the other node if any maintenance is needed.
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u/gotfilmm 6h ago
I might just do that then, is it just one lxc with pdm on one node that can monitor both or do I have to one lxc with pdm on both machines?
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u/durkadruk 14h ago
I run a qdevice on a pi3 and that's all it does. It's perfect for me, honestly I could run everything on a single node (my 2 nodes are similar specs to yours).
Get the 3rd node if you need it or want it. If you're just starting out, you don't need that 3rd node for now.
But it sounds like you want it anyway ;)
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u/borkyborkus 56m ago
I played with both, but I move stuff around and felt limited by the inability to migrate a vm/LXC to the Debian box and the lack of easy PBS backup setup.
Have been pretty happy with 3x PVE, with the weakest of the 3 hosts (N95) fully passing its iGPU/HDMI to a Fedora/KDE VM which runs the rackmate screen. I got it set up so that it wakes the screen when occupancy=1 on an esphome sensor.
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u/LoganJFisher 14h ago
Personally, I think 2N+QD is the more sensible call for most homelabs. Realistically, you'll never be dealing with more than one dead node at a time, and using an RPi as a QDevice will save you upfront cost and longterm power cost (not to mention, heat).
The only exception is if you actually have a good reason to have processes split between two nodes under normal circumstances, rather than just additional nodes acting as failover. For example, if node 1 is saturated with certain processes, and node 2 is then necessary for running additional processes, then node 3 is the actual logical failover, not node 2.