k3s-prod-2 (192.168.2.11) came online 2026-09-01. Enabled in the inventory, baseline package
floor installed, first health run completed. Vaulted become works on it unchanged.
*** OPEN FAULT: the node can only address ~2.6 GiB of a healthy, correctly-installed 16 GB
DIMM. *** Recorded in PROD-PROVISIONING §0b.
dmidecode 16 GB Samsung M471A2K43DB1-CTD in DIMM1 @ 2667 MT/s (DIMM3 empty)
BIOS e820 reports ~16 GiB usable, incl. 0x100000000-0x42f7fffff
kernel Memory: 2568544K/16546088K available (13958980K RESERVED)
last_pfn revised DOWN 0x42f800 (~16.7 GiB) -> 0xc3c10 (~3.06 GiB) in early boot
zones Normal present 3340288 pages (~12.7 GiB) but MANAGED 0
MemTotal 2,753,284 kB = 2.6 GiB
The DIMM is NOT the problem: it is present, correctly identified, and at rated speed. The
kernel sees all 16 GB and then reserves 13.3 GiB. Everything below ~3 GiB usable, everything
above 4 GiB present-but-unmanaged — the signature of memory remapping above 4 GB not being
applied, not of failing memory. Node 1 is the control: identical chassis, identical BIOS R21
Ver. 02.26.00, identical CPU, and it addresses its full 31 GiB. Per-machine state, not a
firmware-version defect.
WARNING RECORDED: do NOT assume the incoming 32 GB fixes this. If the fault is the slot, the
board or a BIOS setting rather than the DIMM, 32 GB presents identically and the money is
wasted. Verify MemTotal after any RAM change.
ALSO FOUND — the prod nodes are NOT hardware-symmetric:
node 1 Micron C400 512GB SATA SSD (~2011) — 69% life, 15 grown bad blocks, 187 erase
failures, 32 unexpected power losses
node 2 Samsung PM9A1 512GB NVMe — 96% life, 2142 power-on hours, 34 unexpected
power losses, overall-health PASSED
Same chassis, same BIOS, same CPU, same partition layout — very different storage. §2 requires
an identical disk layout across all three nodes because Longhorn replica placement assumes
symmetry, so this asymmetry is now a live input to the disk decision rather than a footnote.
Node 2's NVMe is the drive node 1 should have had.
Node 2 otherwise: 0 FAIL / 3 WARN / 12 PASS / 2 SKIP. Same three WARNs as node 1 (swap still
active pending full baseline, single IPv4 resolver, and the NVMe's 34 unexpected power losses),
plus the same unknowable-ECC SKIP.
Serves: R-ENV-01, R-ENV-03, R-OBS-04. Task: T-7.1.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
roles/k3s_server, roles/cilium and every node-host playbook hardcoded the dev group
names k3s_primary/k3s_secondary/k3s_servers, so the prod inventory groups could not be
selected at all. That broke the R-ENV-02 promise that prod reuses the SAME roles, and
blocked PROD-PROVISIONING.md §6 outright.
TWO KNOBS, deliberately separate — Ansible templates a play's `hosts:` BEFORE any host
context exists, so group_vars is unreadable there, while roles run WITH host context:
* which hosts a play RUNS ON — k3s_hosts, k3s_primary_hosts/k3s_secondary_hosts
(k3s.yml's split), vpn_egress_gateway_hosts; each `| default(<dev group>)`, set by -e
only. Follows node-health.yml's established `<name>_hosts | default(dev)` pattern.
* which group a ROLE means by "my primary"/"my servers" — k3s_primary_group,
k3s_servers_group in group_vars/all.yml (dev), overridden in group_vars/k3s_prod.
Follows the k3s_api_host convention already in this repo. No per-run flag.
DEV IS UNCHANGED — the key evidence. --list-hosts/--list-tasks/--syntax-check captured
for all 9 playbooks at HEAD and after: sorted host lists IDENTICAL for all 9, same
primary/secondary split, same 6-play site.yml. (Raw --list-hosts PRINT ORDER varies run
to run; proven to be Ansible's own set ordering by running UNMODIFIED HEAD cilium.yml
four times -> 3,1,2 / 1,3,2 / 1,2,3 / 1,2,3. Hence sorted comparison.) --list-tasks
differs in exactly two files, only by added TAGS annotations and one new assert; no task
reordered, renamed or removed. Var resolution verified per environment with -c local:
dev -> k3s_primary/192.168.1.50/sans .50,.49,127.0.0.1,.51,.52; prod ->
k3s_prod_primary/192.168.2.10/vip .9/sans .10,.9,127.0.0.1,.11,.12.
BREAKS THE SMARTMONTOOLS CIRCULAR DEPENDENCY. node_baseline tasks are now tagged
packages/system/disks, so the package install can run alone:
ansible-playbook playbooks/node-baseline.yml -e k3s_hosts=k3s_prod --tags packages
Skipping is the guard — no disks-tagged task is selected, so the
BLOCKED-pending-disk-decision paths are never templated, let alone passed to mkfs.
Belt-and-braces, a new disks-tagged assert fires first in a FULL run and names §2
explicitly instead of failing obscurely at mkfs. `tags: never` was deliberately NOT used
(it would change the default run).
FOOTGUN FOUND AND FIXED: roles/cilium, cluster_verify and flux_bootstrap all hardcoded
.cache/dev.kubeconfig — the exact file infra/devcontainer/dev.sh exports as $KUBECONFIG.
Once prod became targetable, a prod cilium/verify run would have SILENTLY OVERWRITTEN it,
leaving the operator's kubectl quietly answering from PROD. Now cluster_kubeconfig_name
(dev.kubeconfig -> prod.kubeconfig). Dev path byte-identical.
KNOWN, DOCUMENTED, NOT FIXED HERE: flux-bootstrap.yml retargets but roles/flux_bootstrap
shells out to bootstrap/flux/bootstrap.sh with a hardcoded --path=clusters/dev — a
bootstrap/ subtree change, not a target-group change (§6, cross-referenced to §7).
vpn.egress.gateway.yml is parameterised but prod has no egress group yet and would need
its own vaulted PIA credentials. --check against prod is still impossible until the prod
vault exists — even the packages-only run needs it.
Nothing was run against the dev cluster: --list-hosts/--list-tasks/--syntax-check, plus
debug/assert with -c local, only.
Serves: R-ENV-01, R-ENV-02, R-ENV-03. Task: T-7.1.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
Prod inventory scaffolding for the three bare-metal nodes, and the become posture the
operator ruled for production.
BECOME: prod does NOT get dev's NOPASSWD sudo. Prod keeps a real sudo boundary and
supplies the password to Ansible as an ansible-vault-encrypted `ansible_become_password`
in inventory/group_vars/k3s_prod/vault.yml, mirroring the existing hypervisor and
proxmox_hosts groups. The decrypting passphrase stays outside the repo
(~/.config/home-k3s/ansible-vault-pass), so plays still run unattended with no plaintext
secret in git. Committed here: README.md + vault.yml.example only — the operator creates
the encrypted vault (`ansible-vault create`), as with every other vaulted group.
PACKAGES BELONG IN THE ROLE (operator ruling): smartmontools is now declared in
node_baseline_packages, not hand-installed on a node. Drive health tooling is a
permanent part of a bare-metal node's baseline — dev nodes are VMs and never needed it.
Same click-ops-never principle as the rest of the repo.
ADDRESSING: nodes .10/.11/.12, reached DIRECTLY on the LAN (no pfSense NAT hop, unlike
dev's 192.168.2.102:225x mapping), so ansible_host is the real node IP. kube-vip
control-plane VIP is 192.168.2.9 — deliberately BELOW the nodes and OUTSIDE the Cilium
LB pool (.20-.30) so kube-vip and LB-IPAM can never contend for an address. The ingress
Gateway VIP (.20) and the LB pool are Flux/cluster-vars concerns and deliberately do
not appear in Ansible.
BLOCKED-BY-DESIGN: node_baseline_longhorn_device / node_baseline_etcd_device are present
but set to an obviously invalid /dev/BLOCKED-... path pending the operator's disk-layout
decision (node 1 is a single SATA SSD; the role's /dev/vdb,/dev/vdc defaults are virtio
names that do not exist on bare metal). Leaving them unset would silently fall back to
those equally-nonexistent defaults — a confusing failure that looks like a wiring bug.
This fails just as hard and says exactly why.
KNOWN FOLLOW-UP: roles/k3s_server and every node-host playbook hardcode the literal
group names k3s_primary/k3s_secondary/k3s_servers, so the k3s_prod_* groups are not
selected by them as-is. Harmless now (nothing can accidentally run against prod) but the
"same roles, unchanged" reuse R-ENV-02 promises needs the target group parameterized
before §6 of PROD-PROVISIONING.md can execute. Documented in hosts.ini and both READMEs.
Serves: R-ENV-01, R-ENV-03, R-SEC-01. Task: T-7.1. Gate: MERGE GATE: PASS.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
MinIO's open-source edition is de-prioritised (console removed, commercial
pivot), so swap the off-cluster S3 backup target on the Proxmox host to
versitygw v1.7.0 (github.com/versity/versitygw) — a maintained Go S3 gateway
serving a POSIX filesystem as S3.
Rename role minio_backup_target -> s3_backup_target and playbook backup-minio
-> backup-s3. The role now:
- decommissions any pre-existing MinIO (service/binary/env/mc-client/user/
object-layout), KEEPING the ZFS dataset Storage/k3s-backups and its mount
- installs the pinned, checksummed versitygw binary (fetched+extracted on the
controller, host has no internet), a dedicated versitygw system user, and a
Type=simple hardened systemd unit running the posix backend rooted at
/mnt/Storage/k3s-backups/data, bound to 192.168.1.9:9000 (same endpoint),
plain HTTP / path-style
- ensures the dataset has xattr=sa (versitygw stores object metadata in xattrs)
- pre-creates the velero + cnpg buckets (bucket == top-level subdir)
Credentials are REUSED: versitygw's ROOT key is set to the same scoped
access_key/secret the cluster already uses, so endpoint + key + secret + bucket
names are byte-identical to the old MinIO target. The GitOps SOPS secret
(platform/backup/minio-credentials.sops.yaml) and all cluster-side Velero/CNPG
config need ZERO change. The vaulted group_vars now expose
s3_backup_target_access_key/_secret_key (same values, MinIO root creds retired).
Verified live on the Proxmox host: versitygw active+enabled on 192.168.1.9:9000,
MinIO fully removed, dataset intact; SigV4 ListBuckets with the reused key
returns velero+cnpg; a throwaway in-cluster pod reaches http://192.168.1.9:9000
(versitygw S3 response). Re-run is idempotent (no host changes).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Stand up a single-node/single-drive MinIO S3 endpoint on the Proxmox host as the
off-cluster backup target for Velero (R-STATE-03) and CloudNativePG (R-IDP-05).
Ansible (author + executed):
- roles/minio_backup_target + playbooks/backup-minio.yml — idempotent, additive only:
ZFS dataset Storage/k3s-backups (zstd, quota=100G, /mnt/Storage/k3s-backups, no
sharenfs); minio system user; pinned+checksummed MinIO/mc binaries (fetched on the
controller since the host has no WAN, copied to host); hardened systemd unit bound to
the host's cluster-reachable LAN IP (auto-discovered) on :9000; velero + cnpg buckets;
a non-root access key scoped by IAM policy to only those two buckets.
- inventory: new [proxmox_hosts] group ([email protected].2.102); overrides the cluster-wide
ansible_user. Does not disturb existing k3s node entries.
- group_vars/proxmox_hosts/vault.yml (ansible-vault): root + scoped MinIO creds.
GitOps hand-off:
- platform/backup/minio-credentials.sops.yaml (+ .example) — SOPS/age-encrypted endpoint +
scoped key/secret for the Velero/CNPG wiring (WS-STORAGE/WS-SEC). Not yet wired into a
kustomization (left for the consuming agents).
Verified live: dataset props correct; minio active+enabled bound to 192.168.1.9:9000;
S3 endpoint http://192.168.1.9:9000/minio/health/ready returns 200 from an in-cluster pod;
buckets velero+cnpg present; scoped key created+policy attached; re-run is idempotent.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
- inventory routes SSH via 192.168.2.102:2250/2251/2252; new k3s_node_ip carries
each node's real 192.168.1.x for --node-ip / k3s_api_host / Cilium parity
- dev.sh bind-mounts ~/.config/home-k3s/ansible-vault-pass (ro) so vaulted
playbooks can run in the pinned container (ansible.cfg vault_password_file)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
- ansible hosts.ini: node ansible_host -> 192.168.1.50/.51/.52, with a
clear note that the PM may need to swap these for the pfSense
NAT-forwarded address:port once that NAT rule exists (not guessed here).
k3s_api_host derives from the inventory, so it follows automatically.
- Cilium CiliumLoadBalancerIPPool -> 192.168.1.53-.60 (matches the tofu
cilium_l2_vip reservation on the new LAN).
- CiliumL2AnnouncementPolicy: broaden interface selector to ^e(n|th) so
the Proxmox NIC name (ens18/eth0) need not be pinned; flagged
verify-at-bringup.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Author the vpn_egress_gateway role + playbook that stands up the NODE-level
PIA OpenVPN tunnel on egress-gateway node(s) — the host half of ADR-0015. The
CiliumEgressGatewayPolicy steering vpn-class pods is separate GitOps against the
same contract (group vpn_egress_gateway, node label
homelab.keithjackson.dev/egress-gateway=true, host iface tun0).
Honors all four ADR-0015 invariants:
- Split-tunnel (inv 1&2): OpenVPN route-noexec + pull-filter ignore
redirect-gateway => installs no routes; policy routing in a dedicated table
(51820) with `ip rule from <tun0-addr>` steers ONLY Cilium-SNAT'd vpn-class
traffic. Node default route stays on the WAN, tunnel up or down.
- Scoped nftables kill-switch (inv 3&4): own inet table, policy accept, drops
only tunnel-sourced (@vpn_egress_gateway_src set) packets not leaving tun0 =>
vpn-class fails closed (blackhole), node/internet-class fail open (WAN),
never matched.
PIA creds + the proven sweden-aes-128-cbc-udp-ip .ovpn come from Ansible vault
(host-side per ADR-0015/docs-07); vault keys documented, no secret values
committed. ansible-lint (production) + yamllint clean. Not deployed: green
conformance is gated on the live tunnel (operator host creds) — see role README.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
Where the sudo password goes, codified:
- inventory: new [hypervisor] group (localhost, connection=local).
- host-prereqs.yml targets 'hypervisor'; become password from vaulted
group_vars/hypervisor/vault.yml (ansible_become_password) — user creates it
encrypted (safe to commit); README documents the exact commands.
- ansible.cfg vault_password_file = ~/.config/home-k3s/ansible-vault-pass
(passphrase kept OUTSIDE the repo, never committed).
- ci/yamllint.yaml ignores **/vault.yml (vault blob isn't parseable YAML).
Nodes keep NOPASSWD sudo (group_vars/all) — vault scoped to the host only.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>
jakman85andClaude Opus 5