mrcharles
ea2048dc87
Verified via lsblk TRAN column and dmesg that tsys6/7 local-lvm is
backed by WD My Passport portable HDDs on USB 2.0 (~30 MB/s), not
internal SATA/SAS as previously assumed. Both R610 and R620 only have
EHCI controllers -- no USB 3.0/xHCI. tsys7 has 5 empty SATA ports but
no drives installed; tsys6's SAS controller is disabled in BIOS.
Corrected all wnode recommendations: tsys6/7 stay on NFS (faster than
their USB 2.0 local-lvm). Only tsys3/5/9/2 have local storage suitable
for VM boot disks.
Also discovered tsys3 boots from Samsung PM961 NVMe 512GB (previously
documented as HDD). Its 349 GB local-lvm is the fastest existing local
storage in the fleet.
Updated speed tier table, wnode placement tables, storage distribution
matrices, migration plan, and caching strategy across PROJECT.md and
K8S.md.
💘 Generated with Crush
Assisted-by: Crush:glm-5.2
146 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
146 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
# AGENTS.md — Proxmox Performance Optimization Project
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**Read this first.** This is a solo-founder R&D Proxmox cluster in a private
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residence server room. Shoestring budget. Redundancy is NOT a concern — this
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is for batch jobs. Backups DO matter (PBS in use). Production lives elsewhere.
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**Four .md files exist:**
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- `AGENTS.md` (this file) -- operating context for the AI agent
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- `PROJECT.md` -- comprehensive board-ready report for the user
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- `K8S.md` -- kubernetes architecture deep-dive (for a future session)
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- `TODO.md` -- pending user actions (tsys2 hardware commands, Friday plan)
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## Current state (as of 2026-07-27)
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### DONE — 5 of 7 hosts fully optimized and validated
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| Host | Status | Notes |
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|------|--------|-------|
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| pfv-tsys1 | COMPLETE | 11 VMs, infra host, USB for HA/CA |
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| pfv-tsys3 | COMPLETE | 1 VM, laptop, kernel 7.0.14 (skewed) |
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| pfv-tsys6 | COMPLETE | 5 VMs, bond layer3+4, LACP 1.83 Gbps confirmed |
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| pfv-tsys7 | COMPLETE | 4 VMs, bond layer3+4, LACP 1.83 Gbps confirmed |
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| pfv-tsys9 | COMPLETE | 5 VMs, validated this session, **storage NIC is USB dongle** |
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### PENDING — 2 hosts blocked on physical hardware work (Friday)
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| Host | Blocker | What's staged |
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|------|---------|---------------|
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| **pfv-tsys4** | PCIe NIC (replace USB dongle) + RAM (16→64GB) | All sysctl/tuned/NFS applied. DO NOT reboot until hardware installed. |
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| **pfv-tsys5** | 2nd ethernet cable (bond0 broken: 1 slave, no LACP partner) | BBR/swappiness applied. NFS staged. Reboot after cable + layer3+4 hash. |
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### INCOMING
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- **pfv-tsys2** (Precision 5520, i7-7820HQ, 32GB max, Quadro M1200): Currently
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Win10. Will be rebuilt as Proxmox. K8s-dedicated host. **Hardware validated
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2026-07-27: 2 SSDs (Samsung 960 PRO NVMe 512GB + Samsung 850 EVO SATA 1TB)
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-- best local storage in fleet. Both NICs are USB dongles (ASIX + Realtek)
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-- unavoidable on laptop, no PCIe NIC option.**
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- **tsys5 NVMe**: PCI NVMe drive being added Friday. Recommend local-only
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(not NFS-exported) for VM images.
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## Role taxonomy (user directive)
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| Role | Hosts | Workload |
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|------|-------|----------|
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| **Infrastructure + k8s control** | tsys1, tsys9 | Infra VMs + pfv-k8s cnodes (control plane) + small wnodes |
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| **Kubernetes workers** | tsys2, tsys3, tsys6, tsys7 | pfv-k8s wnodes (heavy workers) -- max RAM for ETL/HPC |
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| **Storage** | tsys4, tsys5 | NFS server + PBS. tsys5 also runs sectestbed. |
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Cnodes weighted to tsys1/9 (lightweight hosts, keep heavy hosts free for
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workers). Wnodes: one per hypervisor host across the fleet. Production lives
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on a VPS in Reston VA (Cloudron) -- this cluster is R&D only.
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## Critical VM-layer findings (see PROJECT.md + K8S.md for full detail)
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1. **ALL 10 pfv-k8s nodes store disks on tsys4 NFS.** tsys4 failure = entire
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k8s cluster dead. etcd quorum lost.
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2. **Both -01/-02 pairs (netinfra, UCS) on tsys4 NFS only.** Both halves die
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if tsys4 goes down. Recommended: netinfra-02 to S3 (tsys5), ucs-01 to D3
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(tsys4 SSD), ucs-02 to tsys9 local SSD.
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3. **No k8s node uses SSD or NVMe.** All on NFS-over-HDD. tsys9 has 136 GB
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unused local SSD; tsys3 has 349 GB unused local **NVMe** (Samsung PM961).
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4. **D3 SSD (tsys4) is 99% empty (445 GB free).** Nobody using the only SSD
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NFS export. Should host ucs-01 (LDAP/AD latency benefit).
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5. **S2/S3/S4 (tsys5) are all 99% empty.** Secondary storage server barely
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used. VMs should be rebalanced to reduce tsys4 blast radius.
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6. **tsys6/7 local-lvm is USB 2.0 portable HDD** (WD My Passport, ~30 MB/s).
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Slower than NFS-HDD. Do NOT use for VM storage. Entire Proxmox OS on these
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hosts boots from USB 2.0 -- user accepts this risk.
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## Storage network IPs (VLAN1000, 10.100.100.0/24)
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```
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tsys1=.1 tsys3=.3 tsys4=.4 tsys5=.5 tsys6=.6 tsys7=.7 tsys9=.9
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```
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## NFS export topology
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**tsys4 exports (primary, 68% of VMs depend on it):**
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- D2 = WDC Red 3TB HDD — most VMs live here
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- D3 = SK hynix 512GB SSD (USB-attached on tsys4)
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- D5 = Hitachi 2TB HDD
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**tsys5 exports (secondary, barely used by k8s):**
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- S1/S2/S3 = Seagate 1TB HDD each
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- S4 = Toshiba 500GB HDD
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- T5-SSD = Samsung 860 PRO 256GB SSD
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**New Friday:** tsys5 NVMe (recommend local-only, not NFS-exported).
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## SSH access
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SSH keys deployed to root on all hosts. Direct ssh/scp blocked in Crush bash;
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use `deploy-check.sh` / `deploy-tuning.sh` wrapper patterns instead.
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## Critical lessons (do NOT regress)
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1. NFS `options` line in storage.cfg must NOT include `version=4.2` — Proxmox
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sets NFS version separately. Use only `options nconnect=4,noatime`.
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2. NFS nconnect=4 only activates on fresh mount — requires VM start or reboot,
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NOT `mount -o remount`.
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3. bond0 xmit_hash_policy: apply live via sysfs, then persist in
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`/etc/network/interfaces` with awk (sed fails on tab-indented stanza).
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4. Always shellcheck before shipping: `docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/mnt"
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koalaman/shellcheck:stable --severity=style scripts/*.sh`
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5. The hosts appear to be **standalone Proxmox installs**, not a shared
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cluster (storage.cfg differs per host). VMs are pinned to their host.
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Moving VMs requires manual disk migration, not live migration.
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## Friday walkthrough (user action)
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### Step 1: tsys5 storage cable + NVMe
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1. Plug 2nd ethernet cable into tsys5 storage NIC
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2. Verify: `cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0` — need "Number of ports: 2" + partner MAC
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3. Apply: `echo "layer3+4" > /sys/class/net/bond0/bonding/xmit_hash_policy`
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4. Install PCI NVMe, format as directory storage (local-only)
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5. Reboot tsys5
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### Step 2: tsys4 hardware install
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1. Install PCIe NIC + add RAM (16→64 GB)
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2. Update `/etc/network/interfaces` — replace `enx8cae4ccda926` with new NIC
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3. Reboot tsys4 (PBS VM restarts — OK)
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### Step 3: Post-hardware validation
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1. `iperf-full-matrix.sh` — re-test all paths
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2. `validate-fixes.sh pfv-tsys4` and `validate-fixes.sh pfv-tsys5`
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3. Update PROJECT.md with post-hardware numbers
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## Version control
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This project is tracked in a local git repo (`main` branch). Use **atomic
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commits with conventional commit messages** (e.g., `docs: add disk utilization
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to storage section`, `feat: add tsys9 validation support`). Never push to
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remote unless explicitly asked.
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## Key scripts
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| Script | Purpose |
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| `scripts/check.sh` | Read-only data collector |
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| `scripts/apply-tunings.sh` | Tier 0 tunings (dry-run/apply/rollback) |
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| `scripts/fix-bond-nfs.sh` | Fix NFS options + bond hash |
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| `validate-fixes.sh` | Validation of all applied changes |
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| `iperf-full-matrix.sh` | Full iperf suite |
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| `deploy-check.sh` | Deploy check.sh to hosts via SSH |
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