PVE 9 BETA TB4 + Ceph Guide

Updated as of: 2025-01-03 - Network architecture corrections applied

GitHub https://github.com/taslabs-net/PVE9_TB4

For the best reading experience, visit the live documentation at: https://tb4.git.taslabs.net/

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Network Architecture (UPDATED)

Cluster Management Network: 10.11.11.0/24 (vmbr0)

• Primary cluster communication and SSH access
• n2: 10.11.11.12
• n3: 10.11.11.13
• n4: 10.11.11.14

VM Network and Backup Cluster Network: 10.1.1.0/24 (vmbr1)

• VM traffic and backup cluster communication
• n2: 10.1.1.12
• n3: 10.1.1.13
• n4: 10.1.1.14

TB4 Mesh Network: 10.100.0.0/24 (en05/en06)

• High-speed TB4 interfaces for Ceph cluster_network
• Isolated from client I/O traffic
• Provides optimal performance for Ceph OSD communication

SSH Key Setup (UPDATED)

Critical: Before proceeding with any configuration, you must set up SSH key authentication for passwordless access to all nodes.

Step 1: Generate SSH Key (if you don't have one)

# Generate a new SSH key (if needed):
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "cluster-ssh-key" -f ~/.ssh/cluster_key

Step 2: Accept Host Keys (First Time Only)

IMPORTANT: Before running the deployment commands, you must SSH into each node once to accept the host key:

# Accept host keys for all nodes (type 'yes' when prompted):
ssh [email protected] "echo 'Host key accepted for n2'"
ssh [email protected] "echo 'Host key accepted for n3'"
ssh [email protected] "echo 'Host key accepted for n4'"

Note: This step is required because the first SSH connection to each host requires accepting the host key. Without this, the automated deployment commands will fail.

Step 3: Deploy SSH Key to All Nodes

Deploy your public key to each node's authorized_keys:

# Deploy to n2 (10.11.11.12):
ssh [email protected] "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && echo 'ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIMGHoypdiKhldYlNUvW27uzutzewJ+X08Rlg/m7vmmtW cluster-ssh-key' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

# Deploy to n3 (10.11.11.13):
ssh [email protected] "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && echo 'ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIMGHoypdiKhldYlNUvW27uzutzewJ+X08Rlg/m7vmmtW cluster-ssh-key' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

# Deploy to n4 (10.11.11.14):
ssh [email protected] "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && echo 'ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIMGHoypdiKhldYlNUvW27uzutzewJ+X08Rlg/m7vmmtW cluster-ssh-key' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

Step 4: Test SSH Key Authentication

# Test passwordless SSH access to all nodes:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  echo "Testing SSH access to $node..."
  ssh root@$node "echo 'SSH key authentication working on $node'"
done

Expected result: All nodes should respond without prompting for a password.

TB4 Hardware Detection (UPDATED)

Step 1: Prepare All Nodes

Critical: Perform these steps on ALL mesh nodes (n2, n3, n4).

Load TB4 kernel modules:

# Execute on each node:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  ssh root@$node "echo 'thunderbolt' >> /etc/modules"
  ssh root@$node "echo 'thunderbolt-net' >> /etc/modules"
  ssh root@$node "modprobe thunderbolt && modprobe thunderbolt-net"
done

Verify modules loaded:

for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  echo "=== TB4 modules on $node ==="
  ssh root@$node "lsmod | grep thunderbolt"
done

Expected output: Both thunderbolt and thunderbolt_net modules present.

Step 2: Identify TB4 Hardware

Find TB4 controllers and interfaces:

for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  echo "=== TB4 hardware on $node ==="
  ssh root@$node "lspci | grep -i thunderbolt"
  ssh root@$node "ip link show | grep -E '(en0[5-9]|thunderbolt)'"
done

Expected: TB4 PCI controllers detected, TB4 network interfaces visible.

Step 3: Create Systemd Link Files

Critical: Create interface renaming rules based on PCI paths for consistent naming.

For all nodes (n2, n3, n4):

# Create systemd link files for TB4 interface renaming:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  ssh root@$node "cat > /etc/systemd/network/00-thunderbolt0.link << 'EOF'
[Match]
Path=pci-0000:00:0d.2
Driver=thunderbolt-net

[Link]
MACAddressPolicy=none
Name=en05
EOF"

  ssh root@$node "cat > /etc/systemd/network/00-thunderbolt1.link << 'EOF'
[Match]
Path=pci-0000:00:0d.3
Driver=thunderbolt-net

[Link]
MACAddressPolicy=none
Name=en06
EOF"
done

Note: Adjust PCI paths if different on your hardware (check with lspci | grep -i thunderbolt)

Verification: After creating the link files, reboot and verify:

for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  echo "=== Interface names on $node ==="
  ssh root@$node "ip link show | grep -E '(en05|en06)'"
done

Expected: Both en05 and en06 interfaces should be present and properly named.

TB4 Network Configuration (UPDATED)

Step 4: Configure Network Interfaces

CRITICAL: TB4 interfaces MUST be defined BEFORE the source /etc/network/interfaces.d/* line to prevent conflicts with SDN configuration.

Manual configuration required for each node:

Edit /etc/network/interfaces on each node and insert the following BEFORE the source /etc/network/interfaces.d/* line:

# Add at the TOP of the file, right after the header comments:
iface en05 inet manual #do not edit in GUI
iface en06 inet manual #do not edit in GUI

Then add the full interface definitions BEFORE the source line:

# n2 configuration:
auto en05
iface en05 inet static
    address 10.100.0.2/30
    mtu 65520

auto en06
iface en06 inet static
    address 10.100.0.5/30
    mtu 65520

# n3 configuration:
auto en05
iface en05 inet static
    address 10.100.0.6/30
    mtu 65520

auto en06
iface en06 inet static
    address 10.100.0.9/30
    mtu 65520

# n4 configuration:
auto en05
iface en05 inet static
    address 10.100.0.10/30
    mtu 65520

auto en06
iface en06 inet static
    address 10.100.0.14/30
    mtu 65520

IMPORTANT:

• The auto keyword is CRITICAL - without it, interfaces won't come up automatically at boot
• These static IP addresses are REQUIRED for Ceph's cluster_network
• Without the IPs, OSDs will fail to start with "Cannot assign requested address" errors

Step 5: Enable systemd-networkd

Required for systemd link files to work:

# Enable and start systemd-networkd on all nodes:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  ssh root@$node "systemctl enable systemd-networkd && systemctl start systemd-networkd"
done

Step 6: Create Udev Rules and Scripts

Automation for reliable interface bringup on cable insertion:

Create udev rules:

for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  ssh root@$node "cat > /etc/udev/rules.d/10-tb-en.rules << 'EOF'
ACTION==\"move\", SUBSYSTEM==\"net\", KERNEL==\"en05\", RUN+=\"/usr/local/bin/pve-en05.sh\"
ACTION==\"move\", SUBSYSTEM==\"net\", KERNEL==\"en06\", RUN+=\"/usr/local/bin/pve-en06.sh\"
EOF"
done

Create interface bringup scripts:

# Create en05 bringup script for all nodes:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  ssh root@$node "cat > /usr/local/bin/pve-en05.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
LOGFILE=\"/tmp/udev-debug.log\"
echo \"\$(date): en05 bringup triggered\" >> \"\$LOGFILE\"
for i in {1..5}; do
    {
        ip link set en05 up mtu 65520
        echo \"\$(date): en05 up successful on attempt \$i\" >> \"\$LOGFILE\"
        break
    } || {
        echo \"\$(date): Attempt \$i failed, retrying in 3 seconds...\" >> \"\$LOGFILE\"
        sleep 3
    }
done
EOF"
  ssh root@$node "chmod +x /usr/local/bin/pve-en05.sh"
done

# Create en06 bringup script for all nodes:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  ssh root@$node "cat > /usr/local/bin/pve-en06.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
LOGFILE=\"/tmp/udev-debug.log\"
echo \"\$(date): en06 bringup triggered\" >> \"\$LOGFILE\"
for i in {1..5}; do
    {
        ip link set en06 up mtu 65520
        echo \"\$(date): en06 up successful on attempt \$i\" >> \"\$LOGFILE\"
        break
    } || {
        echo \"\$(date): Attempt \$i failed, retrying in 3 seconds...\" >> \"\$LOGFILE\"
        sleep 3
    }
done
EOF"
  ssh root@$node "chmod +x /usr/local/bin/pve-en06.sh"
done

Step 7: Verify Network Configuration

Test TB4 network connectivity:

# Test connectivity between nodes:
for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  echo "=== Testing TB4 connectivity from $node ==="
  ssh root@$node "ping -c 2 10.100.0.2 && ping -c 2 10.100.0.6 && ping -c 2 10.100.0.10"
done

Expected: All ping tests should succeed, confirming TB4 mesh connectivity.

Verify interface status:

for node in 10.11.11.12 10.11.11.13 10.11.11.14; do
  echo "=== TB4 interface status on $node ==="
  ssh root@$node "ip addr show en05 en06"
done

Expected: Both interfaces should show UP state with correct IP addresses.

Key Updates Made

1. SSH Access Network: Changed from 10.1.1.x to 10.11.11.x (cluster management network)
2. Network Architecture: Added clear explanation of the three network segments
3. All SSH Commands: Updated to use correct cluster management network
4. Verification Steps: Enhanced with better testing and troubleshooting

Network Summary

• 10.11.11.0/24 = Cluster Management Network (vmbr0) - SSH access and cluster communication
• 10.1.1.0/24 = VM Network and Backup Cluster Network (vmbr1) - VM traffic
• 10.100.0.0/24 = TB4 Mesh Network (en05/en06) - Ceph cluster_network for optimal performance

This updated version ensures all commands use the proper network architecture for your cluster setup.

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For the complete guide with all phases, troubleshooting, and the best reading experience, visit: https://tb4.git.taslabs.net/