# Rancher-server and hosts

**URL:** <https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741>\
**Category:** Rancher 1.x\
**Created:** [June 27, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741 "2017-06-27T16:09:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hugo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b38774/32.png) [@Hugo](https://forums.suse.com/u/Hugo)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741/1 "2017-06-27T16:09:54Z")

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Hello,

I’m new to rancher. Currently I just setup rancher-server on a VM.(docker up to date with debian 8)  
I will now deploy my first node. I am just wondering if I can use the same VM for acting has a host and rancher-server, or if I should dedicate the VM for rancher-server ?

Thank you for your tips.

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**Author:** ![shubbard343](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@shubbard343](https://forums.suse.com/u/shubbard343)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741/2 "2017-06-27T16:48:44Z")

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You can install the agent on the same host as Rancher server, although it is recommended to use a different host.

[http://rancher.com/docs/rancher/v1.6/en/hosts/custom/#adding-hosts-to-the-same-machine-as-rancher-server](http://rancher.com/docs/rancher/v1.6/en/hosts/custom/#adding-hosts-to-the-same-machine-as-rancher-server)

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**Author:** ![Hugo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b38774/32.png) [@Hugo](https://forums.suse.com/u/Hugo)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:29am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741/3 "2017-06-28T08:29:57Z")

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Thank you, so a basic setup would be like :

- VM1 : rancher-server
- VM2 : rancher host

For production I guess setting up a cluster is recommended :

- VM1 : rancher-server1
- VM2 : rancher-server2
- VM3 : rancher host

Of course I guess we can add many rancher host as needed right ?

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**Author:** ![shubbard343](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@shubbard343](https://forums.suse.com/u/shubbard343)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741/4 "2017-06-28T16:00:14Z")

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If you are going to use 2 rancher servers in production, they you should also have another VM to host the database, probably even a cluster (Galera, Percona) for database redundancy. You can add as many hosts/VMs as you want. The only caveat is that each host needs to be accessible by its own IP address, so you can’t put a bunch of servers behind a NAT router unless you create a VPN tunnel between the router and wherever the servers are hosted.

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**Author:** ![Hugo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b38774/32.png) [@Hugo](https://forums.suse.com/u/Hugo)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/rancher-server-and-hosts/6741/5 "2017-06-28T16:17:45Z")

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Yes I did forget to mention the database server.

Thank you