From NFS to Longhorn: Optimizing Persistent Storage on My Kubernetes Cluster

When I first set up my Kubernetes cluster using OrangePi CM4 boards on the Turing Pi V2, storage was a challenge. Since the OrangePi CM4 didn’t support NVMe and SATA across the four nodes, I resorted to NFS mounts for persistent volume storage. While this worked, it wasn’t the most efficient solution, especially for performance-intensive … Read more

Running K3s on My Turing Pi Clusters with Ansible Automation

When managing Kubernetes on resource-constrained hardware like the Turing Pi V2, I’ve found that K3s is a great lightweight alternative to full-blown Kubernetes (K8s). It keeps things simple, removes unnecessary overhead, and works well with my RK1 nodes running Ubuntu Server. Since my cluster doesn’t consist of large, powerful servers, K3s provides the perfect balance … Read more

Upgrading second board to a Turing Pi v2.5

Recently, I received a replacement for one of my Turing Pi 2.4 boards that had a faulty slot. The replacement is the new Turing Pi 2.5, which brings several refinements over the previous version. While the Turing Pi 2.4 was already a solid board, the 2.5 revision introduces enhancements that improve overall usability, control, and … Read more

Transitioning to the RK1: More Power for My Cluster

After a few months of playing with Kubernetes on the OrangePi CM4s, I realized that running anything requiring decent CPU power wasn’t going to work very well. For example, hosting WordPress wasn’t as viable as I had hoped. Granted, WordPress can be pretty resource-intensive, but still—it was a bottleneck. That’s why I eventually settled on … Read more

First Iteration of My Cluster: OrangePi CM4

When I first got my Turing Pi V2 in January of 2023, it was incredibly difficult to find Raspberry Pi CM4s without paying scalper prices. Some sellers were asking around $200 per unit. So, I explored alternatives and found the OrangePi CM4. While not quite as powerful as the Raspberry Pi version, it had the … Read more