Yep! Metal3 for servers with BMCs Tinkerbell for everything else.
I also have an ansible playbook that templates everything into a cloud init scripts as a boot strap server.
About 12 nodes in total now, from new servers to freebee junk laptops in it.
This is what I like about git ops and infra/config as Code personally.
Ideally everything is an a tofu/ansible/helm chart and git lab pipeline/Fleet job. I add comments for anything that I had to learn to make work to those files. Follow good commit hygenine (most of the time). And bam I can almost a year later half asleep stumble back into a thing I did.
I guess I like HA scaled stuff even if just for play. I hate hurdles though
Why always scale to 1?
Problem is containers mean OCI/Docker containers for most people, which distinctly are little OSs (the kernel is shared), where serverless creates a common OS stack and application framework as well.
I use serverless via knative in my homelab…
I name them like the story about them … Its surely unsustanble but 12 nodes and three iot devices and it’s still going strong
The AC is MrColdMizer The PC of cobled spare PC part is TheResurection One laptop is Wapwop and Gamer1 Etc, etc
I then use labels to keep track of conditionals like location, circuits, functions, etc
VM nodes still let you do rolling OS updates for everything besides the hypervisor.
I do get you. Its why I run bare metal containers on the Harvester cluster. A whole VM just feels wasteful for some of this stuff. I also have like 12 nodes (some new, some junk, some pus) though, so I keep baremetal workloads off of hypervisor/management nodes.
No enshittification is a proprietary software disease. FOSS can be rug pulled and future development can become proprietary, or enshitifued features added (Ubuntu as an example both with Snap and selling search data) but it is MUCH MUCH harder then starting proprietary.
It being self hosted is one of the few real protections it has.
I use Ranchers store for that reason. Update the chart and the whole service updates.
Just wish they had a homesteader (this is what would call it) kind of chart catalog that had some some good defaults for homelab use. You know assume longhorn CSI, 1 to 12 node clusters, small users (1 to 20) base, etc. Pack depencies from other charts in the catalog (if you need one postgress db, reuse as much of that deployment for the next app that needs it, etc).
You CAN do all of that now, but each app isn’t really aware of each other, and you have to set the configs for your actual lab.
*No retrospective enshittification yet
Its not yours they can at any time choose to do so
Worse is those things CAN change. Do it require an Internet connection? No, but this update does so you better hope you have it firewalled right. Does it need an app? No, but this update does. Easy never update right? … Now you have an unpatchable hard coded device on your network. What could go wrong?
It changed after 90 days? Whomp whomp no returns. You could fight the legal battle with the mutlicolgerate to get it refunded by the manufacturer. That will be painless to do with the thing you have hardwired into your house…
Listen I get you, I look at opensource firm for a given product type first THEN buy off of that, even that requires added research if there is a server componet (smart vaccums create maps of various types).
Easist option is to do nothing, but that does suck. Day to day chores suck a little, when you are disabled its a massive suck. Listen if your full of piss and vinigar, spry and full of energy, go install automation for charity for seniors and the disabled. They can really use the help.
Are you buying these u/a_random_idiot? /Jk
Honestly though how are consumers supposed to know which ones will be a bust and which ones won’t?
Ahh neat! If it’s just a VM it could be a k8s(rke2/k3s) node too then!
I love my EoP but yes, it’s a big noisy bus. Ok for small checkins and pings etc. like wifi every device on the bus takes a time slot away from another. I do want to see what my electrical upgrade from old wires to thicker gauge inside of grounded EMT does for it though.
If you have linux on machine(s) k3s/rke2 is pretty easy to get going.
Honestly i use my openwrt router, and Tinkerbell (pxe boot services deployed and managed from kubernetes!). Ubuntus MaaS had a really straight forward set and gui too.
Actually you got me thinkng about some of my pieces.
But overall i agree with most of the thread here. Properly rack it, and secure the rack. Then basic locking does the rest (secure a rack door with a lock).
Security cameras system help police catch theives.
Encryption on data you care about and off site back ups meqns rebuilding is just getting the hardware again.
For mini pcs and laptops they have those security cables to at least attach them to a heavier thing (desk, cabinet, etc). (this is the thing i hadn’t thought about).
Finding obsure places to hide my nodes is practical matter for me, because space is always a premium, so over sizing cooling solutions (liquid cooling to big radiators) and then finding wierd places to tuck them away (i mean why cant a computer rack be a night stand, the raspberry pi is clustered anyway why not stick in a lamp, the crawl space is actually always dry there and nice and cool to boot!, etc, etc). That probally adds some* factor to it.
The consumer stuff i have is a more likly target then the SOC or server stuff though. At least for me.
As a full remote supporter i also agree Teams is insufficient (just use anything else!).
Yep! It uses open stacks Ironic under the hood, but tracks config and stack via k8s.
For OS building I’ve been moving to Elemental which builds OS images from container images and cloud init scripts into Suse Micro immutable OSs (which use btrfs for the snapshot management under the hood for updates).