Raspberry Pi Kubernetes

Batteries-included, on-prem Kubernetes

Kubernetes was developed to be cloud-agnostic, but not environment-agnostic. In trying to spin up our own cluster on-prem, we discovered that basic functions like file storage weren't supported by default. Our intent with this project is to source all components necessary to build an on-prem cluster functionally equivalent to one you might find in a public cloud.

This repository contains:

1. The selection of software used for Kubernetes, storage, networking, secrets management, and a GUI.
2. The selection of hardware used in the reference cluster.

Software

Kubernetes Distribution ✅

• K3s

Storage ✅

• Longhorn

Networking ✅/❌

• autossh hacked together reverse tunnel for now ✅
• chisel network tunnelling solution under development ❌

Secrets Management ❌

• Vault (HA mode) use intended
• Native Kubernetes secrets encryption also a possibility

GUI ❌

• Rancher, a simple GUI for Kubernetes
  • Pending adoption until Rancher v2 supports Kubernetes v1.20

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 4, 4GB 🖥
• 4-port PoE switch 🌐
• 4-board cluster case 🧳
• microSD cards, 128GB 💾
• Samsung T5 SSD, 1TB 💾