How to Build a Home Kubernetes Cluster (Step-by-Step 2025 Guide)

🚀 Step-by-Step Setup

1. Flash Raspberry Pi OS

Use Raspberry Pi Imager to install Raspberry Pi OS Lite. Configure SSH access and Wi-Fi/Ethernet.

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2. Install K3s on Each Node

On your master node:

bashCopyEditcurl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -

Get the join token for worker nodes:

bashCopyEditsudo cat /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/node-token

On each worker node, join them to the cluster:

bashCopyEditcurl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | K3S_URL=https://<MASTER_NODE_IP>:6443 K3S_TOKEN=<TOKEN> sh -

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3. Configure MetalLB

Enable load balancing for your cluster by installing MetalLB:

bashCopyEditkubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metallb/metallb/v0.13.7/config/manifests/metallb-native.yaml

Create a MetalLB ConfigMap to define the IP address pool:

yamlCopyEditapiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: IPAddressPool
metadata:
  name: my-ip-pool
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  addresses:
  - 192.168.1.240-192.168.1.250

Apply it with:

bashCopyEditkubectl apply -f metallb-config.yaml

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4. Secure with Tailscale

Install Tailscale on all nodes for secure VPN access to your cluster from anywhere.

On each node:

bashCopyEditcurl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Once connected, you can access your cluster securely from any device.

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📊 Next Steps: Add Monitoring

Set up Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring, or deploy test apps using Helm charts to validate your setup.

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📌 Original Post: Build a Home Kubernetes Cluster (Subnet Savy)

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