__   ____          ___             __                 __                     ___   __  _
   / /__( __ )_____   / _/  ____ _____/ /   _____  ____  / /___  __________     /  /  / /_(_)___ ___  ___
  / //_/ __  / ___/  / /   / __ `/ __  / | / / _ \/ __ \/ __/ / / / ___/ _ \    / /  / __/ / __ `__ \/ _ \
 / ,< / /_/ (__  )  / /   / /_/ / /_/ /| |/ /  __/ / / / /_/ /_/ / /  /  __/   / /  / /_/ / / / / / /  __/
/_/|_|\____/____/  / /    \__,_/\__,_/ |___/\___/_/ /_/\__/\__,_/_/   \___/  _/ /   \__/_/_/ /_/ /_/\___/
                  /__/                                                      /__/

Welcome to the (Kubernetes) Humble Home Lab repo. The source of truth for my bare metal cluster running on Talos Linux.

The goal here is to deepen my understanding of k8s, become the GitOps mindset, and share what I learn along the way.

All of this is connected to a Ubiquiti network with VLANS configured for IoT, Management, DMZ, and Cameras.

Talos is an immutable, API driven operating system designed specifically for Kubernetes. Talos is configured declaritively and is a great choice for a GitOps driven workflow.

For me, a home lab about tinkering and learning. So I set off to learn Kubernetes with a goal to grow my skillset and have an infrastructure that allows me to scale and provide useful, locally hosted applications for my family.

Networking in my cluster is handled by Cilium.

I'm using Envoy Gateway to manage application traffic coming into the cluster.

To keep a pulse on the cluster, I'm using: Prometheus, Grafana, VictoriaLogs, Alertmanager, Gatus, and Fluentbit.

Persistent storage is provided by Rook-Ceph, utilizing the 1TB NVMe drives on each worker.

The backbone of this cluster is Flux CD — a GitOps controller that reconciles my entire Kubernetes state from a Git repository.

My ultimate goal is to have Flux and Renovate handle most of the deployments and updates to the cluster.

This Youtube video I made, gives a general overview of my configuration and the core components.

Special thanks to the most excellent onedr0p/cluster-template. It provides a clean, modern foundation for Talos + Flux-based clusters — and taught me how to organize manifests properly, use SOPS, and implement GitOps the right way.

If you're interested in this type of thing, I encourage you to build your own home lab. It doesn't have to be Kubernetes. Grab ANY old computer and see what you can deploy on it.

Embrace the process. It will be infuriating at times, blissful at others.

You'll build some really cool stuff along the way. And your brain waves will expand.