HashiCorp Nomad Tutorial: Build a 1 Server + 6 Client Cluster

Modern infrastructure requires a reliable workload scheduler that distributes applications across multiple machines.

While many organizations use Kubernetes, a simpler and highly scalable alternative is HashiCorp Nomad.

Nomad is widely used in production environments because it is lightweight, easy to operate, and capable of scheduling thousands of workloads with minimal overhead.

In this tutorial you will learn how to deploy a Nomad cluster with 1 server and 6 client nodes and run distributed workloads across the cluster.

Prerequisites

Before starting ensure you have:

Nomad Cluster Architecture

Example setup used in this tutorial.

           Nomad Server
          (Scheduler)
          192.168.10.10
               |
------------------------------------------
|      |      |      |      |      |
C1     C2     C3     C4     C5     C6

Server schedules workloads while clients execute tasks.

What You Will Learn

In this guide we will cover:

What is HashiCorp Nomad?

Nomad is a workload orchestrator developed by HashiCorp.

It schedules and runs applications across a cluster of machines.

Nomad supports multiple workload types:

One of the biggest advantages of Nomad is simplicity.

Unlike many orchestration systems, Nomad runs as a single lightweight binary, which makes installation and operations extremely simple.

Nomad Architecture

A Nomad cluster consists of two types of nodes:

Nomad Server

The server node manages the cluster.

Responsibilities:

Usually 3 or 5 servers are used in production.

For this tutorial we use 1 server.

Nomad Client

Client nodes execute workloads scheduled by the server.

Responsibilities:

In this tutorial we will deploy 6 client nodes.

Cluster Architecture

Example cluster setup:

Nomad Server

server1
192.168.10.10


Nomad Clients

client1
client2
client3
client4
client5
client6

The server schedules jobs and distributes them across all client machines.

Install Nomad

Download Nomad binary from HashiCorp.

wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/nomad/1.7.0/nomad_1.7.0_linux_amd64.zip

Unzip and move binary.

unzip nomad_1.7.0_linux_amd64.zip

sudo mv nomad /usr/local/bin/

Verify installation.

nomad version

Configure Nomad Server

Create configuration directory.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/nomad.d

Create server configuration file.

sudo nano /etc/nomad.d/server.hcl

Example configuration:

server {
  enabled = true
  bootstrap_expect = 1
}

data_dir = "/opt/nomad"

bind_addr = "0.0.0.0"

Start Nomad server.

nomad agent -config=/etc/nomad.d/server.hcl

Configure Nomad Clients

On each client node create:

/etc/nomad.d/client.hcl

Example configuration:

client {
  enabled = true
  servers = ["SERVER_IP"]
}

data_dir = "/opt/nomad"

Start client agent.

nomad agent -config=/etc/nomad.d/client.hcl

Verify Cluster

Check cluster members.

nomad node status

Example output:

ID        Node Name   Status
node1     client1     ready
node2     client2     ready
node3     client3     ready
node4     client4     ready
node5     client5     ready
node6     client6     ready

Deploy a Sample Job

Create job file.

example.nomad

Example job configuration:

job "web" {

  datacenters = ["dc1"]

  group "example" {

    task "nginx" {

      driver = "docker"

      config {
        image = "nginx:latest"
        ports = ["http"]
      }

      resources {
        cpu    = 500
        memory = 256
      }

    }

  }

}

Run job.

nomad run example.nomad

Check job status.

nomad job status

Real World Use Cases

Nomad is widely used in modern infrastructure.

CI/CD Pipelines

Nomad can run CI jobs across distributed workers.

Example:

Blockchain Infrastructure

Nomad can schedule blockchain nodes.

Examples:

Batch Processing

Nomad is ideal for batch workloads.

Examples:

AI and GPU Workloads

Nomad supports GPU scheduling.

This is useful for:

Nomad vs Kubernetes

Feature Nomad Kubernetes
Complexity Simple Complex
Installation Single binary Multiple components
Resource usage Low High
Learning curve Easy Steep

Nomad is ideal when you need simple and scalable orchestration without Kubernetes complexity.

Conclusion

HashiCorp Nomad is a powerful workload orchestrator that provides simplicity, scalability, and reliability.

By deploying a cluster with 1 server and 6 clients, you can run distributed workloads efficiently across your infrastructure.

Nomad is particularly useful for:

Because it runs as a single binary, Nomad is significantly easier to operate compared to many other orchestration systems.

Next Steps

In future tutorials we will explore:

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