Hamdi KHELIL

Posted on Oct 28

🧰 The Hardware That Powers My Homelab Kubernetes Cluster

#cloud #kubernetes #automation #devops

Hey everyone 👋

Before diving deeper into the software stack of my homelab
I want to fully introduce the physical components that make this whole project come alive 🧑‍🔧

This article focuses entirely on hardware choices and why each element matters

Let’s explore the building blocks of my mini data center 🏡⚡

🖥️ The Compute Layer

Three Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q Tiny

These three machines are the heart of the homelab
They provide the CPU and memory resources needed to run Kubernetes workloads inside virtual machines

Why I chose them
✅ compact and silent
✅ excellent performance per watt
✅ reliable and low power for 24x7
✅ scalable memory support

Specs per node

Intel CPU with multiple cores
32 GB RAM
NVMe SSD for fast VM storage

Together they give me:
🧠 96 GB RAM total
⚡ 36 vCPUs total

This allows me to:

simulate real production workloads
run 3 HA control plane nodes
run 6 worker nodes
add utility VMs when needed

Small machines
big power 😁

🌐 The Networking Layer

Gigabit Switch Today

Managed PoE Switch Tomorrow

Right now my network is built on a simple Gigabit Ethernet switch
Flat network
no VLANs
no advanced routing

This keeps things:
✅ simple to maintain
✅ easy to debug
✅ perfectly functional for a first iteration

But I am already thinking ahead 👀

A managed switch with PoE is on my radar because it would allow:
🧩 VLAN segmentation for test environments
📡 powering future access points or cameras directly from the switch
🛡️ network isolation for storage, monitoring or nodes
📈 better performance analysis through advanced metrics

For now
simplicity wins
but I want room to grow

🍓 The Brain of the LAN

Raspberry Pi as DNS Server

DNS is a critical piece in any infrastructure
especially Kubernetes

The Raspberry Pi handles:
✅ local DNS resolution
✅ service discovery across the home network
✅ potential Pi hole extension later

It ensures zero reliance on public DNS for internal services
Fast
lightweight
and rock solid 🧩

📦 The Data Layer

Synology NAS for Storage and Backups

Applications need persistent data
databases
monitoring stack
GitOps metadata

The Synology NAS provides:
✅ NFS shares for general storage
✅ iSCSI volumes for testing block level workloads
✅ snapshots and RAID protection
✅ backup space for Proxmox VMs

It is the data backbone of the homelab
keeping stateful workloads safe 🧡

🔌 Hardware Architecture Diagram

Here is a more complete view of the hardware layout

                Internet
                    │
                 Router
               with VPN
                    │
             ┌──────┴──────┐
             │             │
       Gigabit Switch      │
    (Flat network today    │
     but future Managed PoE)
             │
 ┌───────────┼───────────────┬───────────┐
 │           │               │           │
[Node 1]  [Node 2]        [Node 3]   Synology NAS
Proxmox   Proxmox         Proxmox         
 │         │               │              
 └─────────┴───────────┬───┘              
                       │                  
                Raspberry Pi (DNS)

Everything works together as a single coherent platform
Compute + Networking + DNS + Storage
self hosted and fully controlled ✅

🎯 Why this hardware matters

Every piece of this hardware plays a key role

Hardware	Role
Lenovo Tiny Nodes	Compute layer for Kubernetes
Gigabit Switch	Fast and reliable local communications
Managed PoE Switch future	Network control and segmentation
Raspberry Pi	DNS authority for all internal traffic
Synology NAS	Persistent data and VM backup storage

This creates a production style environment
ready for real workloads and real failures
without cloud overhead or noise pollution

A smart and scalable foundation 🤝

✅ Up Next

Next article in the series
➡️ Turning this hardware into a Proxmox cluster
➡️ VM management
➡️ Template strategy
➡️ Solid virtualization layer for Kubernetes

Stay tuned
The fun is only beginning 😎

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