Tenant Hypervisors #

Purpose #

The tenant hypervisors host application workloads and experiments. This is Proxmox Node 2 in the two-hypervisor architecture, dedicated to workloads that may be rebuilt frequently and can tolerate higher churn.

Hardware #

Selection Rationale #

Operating System #

Automation Capability #

• Installation: Manual ISO install (no PXE support for Proxmox)
• Post-install: Ansible configuration via deevnet.builder collection
• VM provisioning: Terraform (future) for declarative lifecycle
• Templates: Packer-built Fedora templates stored locally

Dell Optiplex 7050 MFF #

Site: dvntm (mobile)

The Dell Optiplex 7050 Micro Form Factor is a repurposed enterprise desktop used as the tenant hypervisor for the mobile site. Its compact size, low power consumption, and Intel virtualization support make it well-suited for always-on infrastructure workloads.

Hardware #

Selection Rationale #

• Repurposed enterprise desktop - reliable, well-supported hardware
• 32GB RAM meets tenant hypervisor requirements for multiple VMs
• Compact form factor suitable for mobile lab placement
• Low power consumption for always-on operation
• Intel VT-x/VT-d for Proxmox virtualization support
• Intel I219-LM NIC for reliable network connectivity

Roles #

The tenant hypervisor hosts these workload categories:

Tenant workloads tolerate higher churn and may be rebuilt frequently.

VM Templates #

Templates are built using Packer and stored locally on each hypervisor. New VMs clone from templates for rapid, consistent deployment.

Provisioning: Terraform (Future) #

Tenant VM lifecycle management is expected to transition to Terraform:

Terraform will be introduced only for tenant workloads, avoiding unnecessary complexity in the management plane.

Non-Clustered Design #

The tenant hypervisor operates independently without Proxmox clustering:

Rationale #

For a two-node lab environment:

• Clustering adds complexity without meaningful HA
• Two-node clusters introduce quorum challenges
• Local storage is simpler and faster
• Manual VM placement is acceptable at this scale

Network Position #

graph LR
    A[Core Router] <--> B[Tenant Hypervisor
Proxmox Node 2] <--> C[Tenant VMs
apps, experiments, sandboxes]

Guest VMs receive network configuration from Core Router DHCP.

Future: VLAN Isolation #

When tenant networking is implemented:

Deterministic MAC Addressing #

Current Policy #

Deterministic MAC addressing for tenant workloads is deferred until tenant lifecycle management is formalized.