I have a dream to create a compute blade Kubernetes (k8s) cluster.
The hardware is difficult to get— production is limited and they’re not cheap. The idea is to incrementally buy blades and expand over time.
https://welectron.com has in stock parts, with the best prices.
- 19” 1U rack enclosure holds 20 compute blades and will serve as the basis of the project. I can mount this in my IKEA Lack and add more compute blades as I have the money to buy more.
- IKEA Lack this is a poor man’s 19” rack and I already have one. See LackRack wiki
- PoE network switch probably a WS-C3650-48FQM since they can be found used on eBay for cheap.
- Talos Linux
- M.2 NVMe https://diskprices.com/?locale=us&condition=new,used&capacity=1-3&disk_types=m2_nvme kootion 2TB for $155
- Fan module (only need 1 per every 2 compute blades)
- shorty Ethernet cable (20)
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module CM4 (CM4008000 or CM4004000) (lite version: no wifi, no MMC) https://rpilocator.com/?country=US&cat=CM4
- Compute blade DEV (only need 1 of these) https://www.pishop.us/product/compute-blade-dev
- Compute blade basic (19)
- Compute blade heat sink (19) https://www.pishop.us/product/heat-sink-v1-black/
- Compute blade DEV heat sink (1) https://www.pishop.us/product/heat-sink-v1-0-dev-red/
- Standard fan module https://www.pishop.us/product/fansta-1v1-0
- Replacement batteries for my UPS (3 pack of UB1280) https://www.amazon.com/3x-Pack-BCPRO1400-Replacement-Universal/dp/B00LRUCWCG
Vendors
- Raspberrystore.nl
- Pi3g.com
- https://www.berrybase.de/en/detail/0193ac3ce80070429d0d626d722cf36f
- https://buyzero.de/search?type=product&q=computeblade
- https://raspberrypi.dk/en/?s=computeblade&post_type=product
Storage ideas
- Use storage in a NAS using https://github.com/democratic-csi/democratic-csi or similar