Node 1's SSD failed and was replaced; Debian was reinstalled, so node 1 is now a
JOINING node with no cluster state. It was still listed in [k3s_prod_primary],
and that group decides two things at once:
1. which play gets k3s_server_mode: primary -> --cluster-init, which FOUNDS A
NEW CLUSTER, and
2. what k3s_api_host resolves to -- the --server join target.
So re-provisioning node 1 unchanged would have pointed a rebuilt, empty node at
ITSELF and founded a second cluster beside the live one. The role's
`creates: /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml` guard does not help: on a fresh install that
file is absent, so cluster-init WOULD have run.
Node 2 is the senior surviving server (up since 2026-09-01) and takes the founder
slot. Its own cluster-init task is inert precisely because k3s.yaml already exists
there. Verified after the change: k3s_api_host renders 192.168.2.11, and
groups[k3s_primary_group][0] is k3s-prod-2.
This is a latent gap the role documented but did not handle -- its comment assumes
the founder is always alive ('On a WARM single-node rejoin the founder is up and
answering too'). Rebuilding the founder itself was not covered.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>
jakman85andClaude Opus 5
08fbe85638