To setup Raspberry PI for Kubernetes

In order to setup the Raspberry PI to run Kubernetes, you need to assemble it and install the OS and do some minor adjustments. But first of all, let's check the requirements.

Requirements

For this lab we'll require to use:

• 2 Raspberry boxes, at least (se below for information about), and your computer
• A Micro SD card reader for your computer, if it hasn't already 
• Devices such as mouse, keyboard and monitor (or TV)
  

Raspberry box content

To ensemble the two Raspberry boxes, you should have the following:

• Two (or more) Raspberry PI 4B board with 4GB RAM (recommended). The 2GB RAM will work for the nodes, not for the master. I have one board of 2GB RAM and another of 8GB RAM, but with 4GB for the master is fine. 
• Two Raspberry PI cases for Raspberry PI 4B, with fan and heat dissipation. Some cases provides power cable, so it's up to you if you buy this with power or you buy the power cable apart.  
• Two Power cables for Raspberry PI 4B

In addition you will need:

• Two Micro SD cards of 32 GB, which will be used as hard disk. 
  
• Two video cables from micro HDMI to whatever your monitor or TV supports. Most common interface is HDMI, so you should have two video cables from micro HDMI to HDMI.
  
• Mouse, keyboard and monitor, or TV. With one of each one is enough
  

 

Assembling the Raspberry PI

To assemble the Raspberry PI you just need to put the Raspberry PI single-board into the Raspberry PI box. Although it's very simple there are some caveats, so I will generate a new post with details, in case you find some issue. But usually it's very straight forward. 

 

OS Installation

To install the Ubuntu Desktop 64 bit, you will need the Raspberry PI Imager installed on your computer. Then connect the Micro SD card in your computer. Done that, you choose the OS (Ubuntu Desktop 64 bit), then choose the SD card, and click on write.

Setup the Raspberry PI

Once the software is installed on your Micro SD, you can put the Raspberry and turn it on. Follow the directions to finish the setup and update your Ubuntu. You can open a terminal an run the following:

sudo apt update        # Fetches the list of available updates
sudo apt upgrade       # Installs some updates; does not remove packages
sudo apt full-upgrade  # Installs updates; may also remove some packages, if needed
sudo apt autoremove    # Removes any old packages that are no longer needed

 

Install VNC server

Once the software is installed and upgraded I suggest you to install VNC, so you can access the desktop from your computer. You can use this guideline to install VNC server on Ubuntu.

Done that, we can use this Raspberry PI for a Kubernetes cluster as described in this article.