Hey everyone 👋
Now that you know the hardware powering my homelab
it is time to show how I turned those machines into a Proxmox cluster ready to host a production style Kubernetes environment 🧑💻⚙️
This article covers the entire setup
including fixes for a few annoying real world problems 😅
Let’s get into it 🚀
✅ Step 1. Update BIOS on Lenovo Tiny Nodes
Before installing Proxmox
I strongly recommend updating the BIOS of each node
Why it matters
✅ fixes stability bugs
✅ improves CPU performance and thermal handling
✅ avoids random shutdowns or throttling
✅ unlocks better hardware support
Old BIOS = unpredictable issues later
Flash now and enjoy peace later ✅
✅ Step 2. Install Proxmox VE
I installed Proxmox VE on each of my three Lenovo M920q nodes
using this simple naming and addressing plan:
Node Hostname IP
Node 1 pve1 192.168.1.21
Node 2 pve2 192.168.1.22
Node 3 pve3 192.168.1.23
DNS points to my Raspberry Pi ✅
Installation takes a few minutes
and Proxmox is ready through a browser 🎉
✅ Step 3. Fix NIC Offloading Stability Issues
This one hit me hard 😬
I kept encountering:
❌ random node connectivity loss
❌ nodes freezing during network traffic
❌ SSH dropping without reason
Cause
👉 NIC offloading on Intel network adapters
Fix using this excellent community script
https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=nic-offloading-fix
After applying this
the cluster became rock solid ✅
If you run Lenovo Tiny
this fix is almost mandatory 👀
✅ Step 4. Create the Proxmox Cluster
On node pve1:
pvecm create homelab-cluster
On other nodes:
pvecm add 192.168.1.21
Now
I can manage all nodes from a single interface ✅
VMs can migrate easily between hosts ✅
Monitoring is unified ✅
Production vibes at home 😎
✅ Step 5. Flat Network Setup First
Managed Switch Comes Later
For now
the network is simple:
one Gigabit flat network
vmbr0 bridging the physical NIC
DHCP/static addressing for VMs
Benefits
✅ simple
✅ stable
✅ easy to troubleshoot
Future upgrade:
🔹 Managed PoE switch
🔹 VLAN segmentation for Kubernetes traffic
🔹 Insights and better monitoring
Great now
but room to grow ✅
✅ Step 6. Main Storage: Synology NAS (NFS + iSCSI)
Persistent workloads require persistent storage
so my Synology NAS handles all Kubernetes storage
✅ NFS for most apps
✅ iSCSI for database style block volumes
✅ RAID and snapshots for safety
✅ Backup target for Proxmox VMs
The NAS is the data backbone of the homelab
exactly how storage is handled in production 🚀
✅ Step 7. Automated Ubuntu 25.x Templates With Packer
To avoid manual VM setup
I automated template building using Packer
Operating system
🧩 Ubuntu Server 25.x
Modern kernel and great container support
My Packer template creates VMs that are:
✔ cloud init ready
✔ qemu guest agent installed
✔ ssh enabled
✔ updated and hardened
✔ swap disabled for Kubernetes
This allows me to deploy
a brand new Kubernetes node VM in under 30 seconds 🤯
Fast
repeatable
version controlled
Infrastructure as code for real 😁
⚠️ Important Real World Gotchas
Here are issues I personally hit
and how I fixed them ✅
Problem Cause Solution
Node freezes or network drops NIC offloading Apply NIC fix ✅
Unexpected reboots or throttling Old BIOS Flash BIOS ✅
High CPU temps under load Small chassis Tune cooling profile ✅
VMs or pods OOM Overcommit Reserve RAM for hypervisor ✅
Homelabs teach you technology
by breaking and fixing it
the best learning path 🔥
✅ What We Have Achieved So Far
Feature Status
Three node Proxmox cluster ✅
Network stability ✅
NAS integrated for storage ✅
Custom VM templates ✅
Automation friendly ✅
Kubernetes ready foundation ✅
A real mini datacenter is now running in my home
quietly
efficiently
and fully under my control 🏡✨
✅ Coming Next
Deploying Kubernetes with Kubespray
In the next article you will see:
🔥 3 high availability control plane nodes
🔥 6 workers ready for workloads
🔥 DNS fully internal
🔥 main storage already integrated
🔥 GitOps and monitoring soon after
This is when the real fun begins 😎🔥
Stay tuned
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