CI/CD Kubernetes with PIs, Immersion Cooling, and a Soldering Iron

Inspiration

First, I had a small pile of Raspberry PI 4Bs sitting idle. Second, I wanted to be able to work against a Kubernetes cluster without paying fees for EKS, GKE, or even EC2's. Third, I was bored.

Aspiration

Turn the PIs into a Kubernetes cluster, integrate all of the common suite of subsystems, including observability (Prometheus, Grafana, etc.), modern GitOps IaaC (GitLab) and CI/CD (ArgoCD). Make it a piece of art, avoid thermal throttling, and learn.

Execution

Review and select a suite of a tools and technologies that will enable us to build a well function Kubernetes cluster on Raspberry PIs, setup all the tooling necessary, and build an enclosure to support and RGB LED lit, immersion cooled, and rather nice looking end product.

Oh, and then offer it for sale so I could write off all the expenses as a loss on my failed business.

While working with my 22 year old Comp-Sci son and my long time and geek friend to generate useful content driven by our thoughtful decision making, experience tackling the problems at hand, and filling in the gaps in all the existing documentation found, much of which is 5+ years old.

Note, this will be a multi-part series of posts, capturing the decisions made, tools and documentation relied upon, reflections on the experience, and follow on steps.

Well, for no other reason than having spent 40+ years creating innovation solutions to complex problems using technology and creativity, I thought it'd be fun. And, at the end of the day, I favor any activity that involves creative problem solving, innovative applications of technology, and the opportunity to get hands on experience trying to perfect the delivery of tech capabilities.