Skip to content

Commit b570b50

Browse files
aott33aott33
committed
start blog draft
1 parent e82a92a commit b570b50

1 file changed

Lines changed: 99 additions & 0 deletions

File tree

‎_posts/2025-12-08-week-05-kubernetes-deployment.md‎

Lines changed: 99 additions & 0 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
1+
---
2+
title: "Kubernetes: A new frontier for me!"
3+
date: 2025-12-08 16:00:00
4+
categories: [Homelab, Linux]
5+
tags: [arch-linux, linux, homelab, kubernetes]
6+
description: "Week 5 of 16: Learning Kubernetes and deploying a K3s control plane and worker"
7+
toc: true
8+
mermaid: true
9+
---
10+
11+
**See the [Homelab GitHub Repo](https://github.com/aott33/iiot-kubernetes-homelab)**
12+
13+
**Week:** 5 of 16
14+
15+
---
16+
17+
## Introduction
18+
19+
This week was supposed to be about Kubernetes. It became a masterclass in Arch Linux installation troubleshooting instead.
20+
21+
I spent hours debugging an encrypted Arch Linux installation that refused to boot and learned to follow the recommended installation guide.
22+
23+
## Background & Context
24+
25+
This is week 3 of a 16-week journey documenting my Homelab building process. Week 1 established the network foundation with OPNsense and WiFi. Week 2 added VLAN segmentation for OT/IT security. This week was meant to deploy the Kubernetes control plane on my gaming PC, but hardware had other plans.
26+
27+
**Hardware obstacle:** My gaming PC wouldn't power on this week. It tripped the circuit breaker immediately on startup, indicating a power supply or motherboard fault. Rather than delay the project for hardware troubleshooting, I pivoted to using my business PC as the K3s control plane instead.
28+
29+
Before starting this week, I had never installed Arch Linux. I'd used Ubuntu and other Debian-based distros, but Arch's manual installation process was new to me. I chose Arch because of the learning opportunity, it's the foundation for the K3s control plane that will run my IIoT platforms.
30+
31+
**This week's goals:**
32+
1. Install Arch Linux on Business PC (IP: 192.168.20.10)
33+
2. Deploy K3s control plane (server mode) with no workload scheduling
34+
3. Verify control plane health and accessibility
35+
4. Document baseline resource usage
36+
37+
---
38+
39+
These gaps won't block K3s deployment, but filling them will make me more effective at troubleshooting when things break. The Arch Wiki will be my companion for these deep dives.
40+
41+
---
42+
43+
## Summary & Lessons Learned
44+
45+
Week 3 is finally complete. I installed Arch Linux on the business PC after a humbling journey through hardware failure (gaming PC tripped circuit breaker, suspected PSU/motherboard fault), encryption troubleshooting, UEFI quirks, and configuration errors. The K3s control plane deployment moves to Week 4.
46+
47+
**What worked well:**
48+
- **MSI `--removable` flag discovery:** Solved the initial boot failure
49+
- **Switching to the Arch Wiki:** Official documentation is always superior to tutorials for critical infrastructure
50+
- **Fresh start decision:** Knowing when to abandon a broken approach saved hours of additional debugging
51+
52+
**What didn't work:**
53+
- **Following YouTube tutorial blindly:** Encryption added complexity I didn't need yet
54+
55+
**The biggest lesson: Complexity has a cost**
56+
57+
Encryption is valuable. LVM is powerful. But adding them *during initial installation* on a homelab system increased failure modes. I needed a working foundation first.
58+
59+
Next week: K3s control plane deployment (for real this time).
60+
61+
---
62+
63+
## Next Week Preview
64+
65+
**Week 4: K3s Control Plane - Building the Kubernetes Foundation**
66+
67+
With Arch Linux installed and working, I'm finally ready to deploy the Kubernetes control plane. This week I'm tackling:
68+
69+
1. K3s server installation on arch-andy
70+
2. Control plane configuration (no workload scheduling)
71+
3. Verify cluster health with `kubectl`
72+
4. Document baseline resource usage
73+
5. Prepare for worker node addition in Week 5
74+
75+
This is my first time deploying Kubernetes from scratch, so expect some learning moments.
76+
77+
Follow along as we finally get to the Kubernetes part of this Kubernetes homelab project!
78+
79+
---
80+
81+
## Resources & Links
82+
83+
**Arch Linux Documentation:**
84+
- [Arch Linux Installation Guide](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide): The official guide
85+
- [Arch Linux Download](https://archlinux.org/download/): ISO images and torrents
86+
- [General Recommendations](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/General_recommendations): Post-installation configuration
87+
88+
**Tutorial I Followed (Initially):**
89+
- [YouTube: Arch Linux Installation Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxeriGuJKTM): Good tutorial
90+
91+
**Troubleshooting Resources:**
92+
- [MSI Motherboard Boot Issue](https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=283707): UEFI boot quirks
93+
- [GitHub: PiKVM FSTAB Issue](https://github.com/pikvm/pikvm/issues/709): Helped diagnose mount problems
94+
95+
**Homelab Repository:**
96+
- [Homelab Repo](https://github.com/aott33/iiot-kubernetes-homelab)
97+
98+
**Writing Framework:**
99+
- [The Algorithmic Framework for Writing Good Technical Articles](https://www.theocharis.dev/blog/algorithmic-framework-for-writing-technical-articles/)

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)