[HN Gopher] Pocket-sized cloud with a Raspberry Pi
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Pocket-sized cloud with a Raspberry Pi
Author : alexellisuk
Score : 102 points
Date : 2022-03-23 18:03 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.alexellis.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.alexellis.io)
| thesuitonym wrote:
| We often joke that ``the cloud is just someone else' computer,''
| but that's not entirely accurate, because it's not just one
| computer, it's a network of computers, allowing the processes on
| it to continue running regardless of the status of any individual
| piece of hardware, or any single OS.
|
| To throw everything on a single Raspberry Pi isn't really a
| cloud, even though it's offering cloud-like services.
| rcarmo wrote:
| Other things that you can do (to build upon these) is to go for
| higher-level functions:
|
| - Run n8n.io for inter-SaaS workflows
|
| - Run Node-RED for lower-level automation
|
| - Forego containers and use https://github.com/piku to run simple
| web apps
|
| (disclaimer: I wrote Piku as a sort of anti-pattern since I
| wanted Heroku-style deploys without Docker and buildpacks)
| john-tells-all wrote:
| love Piku! <3
| firloop wrote:
| Where are people buying Raspberry Pis these days? I went to go
| buy one a couple of days ago and it was sold out many places.
| jrm4 wrote:
| Serious question. I'm in my mid 40s, I've been using Linux for
| over two decades. I use a tinc network (also Syncthing) to manage
| my home and two offices, plus my kids laptops. We do gaming, I do
| media server stuff. I teach IT, I own a (presently inactive) web-
| design company..etc. etc.
|
| All to say, I don't understand the point of this. What is this
| for and why would I want it?
| imoverclocked wrote:
| It seems like the point is to introduce OpenFaaS.
| tashian wrote:
| In my homelab I've got RPis running Minio (S3-compatible block
| storage), step-ca (local certificate authority), CoreDNS (local
| DNS), a local gpsd/chrony setup (for local GPS-backed NTP, using
| the Uputronics GPS hat), shairport-sync (AirPlay server), and
| some web services fronted by Caddy. A great way to learn and try
| out various services, Linux distros, infrastructure management
| options, etc.
| sunsetSamurai wrote:
| how would you get started learning these things? I've always
| wanted to do something like this but I don't know what begin
| with
| doubled112 wrote:
| Pick a project (or better yet, a problem), and make it
| happen. Pick an area and tinker in it.
|
| There's not really much more to it than that.
|
| You may need to learn a ton as you go if you don't know the
| basics of the area the project is in. Software based projects
| are probably easier than hardware based projects in the sense
| that you won't lose money to change your mind.
|
| On a RPi, you can always just rewrite the SD card and carry
| on. No harm, no foul. You're not counting on it like you
| would your main machine (until you are).
| zdkl wrote:
| > Minio (S3-compatible block storage)
|
| What are you using for storage? Powered HDD over USB or
| something?
| tashian wrote:
| Yep, a SATA SSD that runs over USB 3.0 is very fast on the
| RPi4, as long as you make sure "UASP mode" is enabled (this
| can take bit of tinkering). You don't even need external
| power, just a $5 USB to SATA cable.
| rcarmo wrote:
| I've been thinking of re-casting Piku (https://github.com/piku)
| as a set of Caddy configs and little more, but haven't had the
| time to bunch together all the necessary plugins - but Caddy is
| a great base for building anything web-related.
| tksb wrote:
| You ticked so many of my proverbial boxes with this and now I'm
| crossing my fingers you've written about any of it somewhere
| for public consumption!
| scruple wrote:
| Seconded. I just _finally_ was able to snag two RPi 4s and
| they arrive today and I 'm planning on going a similar route
| as the GP.
| tashian wrote:
| I've written about the CA for Smallstep:
| https://smallstep.com/blog/build-a-tiny-ca-with-raspberry-
| pi...
|
| I'd LOVE to write more about my homelab, but it's a work in
| progress that continues to evolve, and I haven't documented
| things as well as I'd like to!
| baby-yoda wrote:
| this is all on my homelab to-tinker list - any further comments
| you can share? assuming with a CA, DNS and NTP everything stays
| up without missing a beat if you lose WAN for some time?
| tashian wrote:
| The CA and NTP server would hum along just fine.
|
| The DNS servers, less so: CoreDNS is reading my internal DNS
| zone from an Amazon Route53 private zone. This was my way of
| dealing with running two DNS servers concurrently, but it
| wouldn't do well in a WAN outage.
|
| And, once I lose internal DNS, I lose everything else too
|
| I've written about the CA for Smallstep:
| https://smallstep.com/blog/build-a-tiny-ca-with-raspberry-
| pi...
|
| I wrote a piece about the NTP server, but I haven't had a
| chance to post it yet. There are some good resources out
| there for creating a local NTP server, though. It takes some
| time and effort to get everything dialed in, because GPS and
| NTP are both finicky and easy to misconfigure.
|
| I'd LOVE to write more about my homelab, but it's a work in
| progress that continues to evolve, and I haven't documented
| things as well as I'd like to!
| leftbit wrote:
| Read this two times, but really couldn't understand why I'd want
| to do this, which practical problems this is going to solve. Must
| be getting old...
| [deleted]
| cinntaile wrote:
| Isn't that the case for a lot of things you learn? Sometimes
| it's just nice to get exposed to new things or concepts even if
| you never use any of it in practice.
| gruez wrote:
| >TCO: ~35 USD
|
| This is a nitpick, but I suspect the author doesn't know what
| "TCO" means. It _doesn 't_ mean "all in purchase price", it
| means... "total cost of ownership"[1]. The base raspberry pi[2]
| already costs between $25-$35. Add in shipping, cost of
| cables/charge/case (pictured), the _purchase price_ alone would
| likely exceed $35. If we add in the cost of 5 years of power (I
| 'm using 1W) that would definitely push us well beyond $35. And
| this is all before going over the biggest line item: cost of
| labor. It might be "free" to you, but if you're doing a cost
| calculation you should at least value it at the federal minimum
| wage.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_cost_of_ownership
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
| [deleted]
| alexellisuk wrote:
| > Many of us own at least one Raspberry Pi, and if it's not doing
| duty as a media player, retro gaming console, blocking ads, or
| reporting the weather, then it may well be gathering dust.
|
| > I'm writing this article as an excuse for you to blow the dust
| off those microchips, and to put your pocket-sized silicon to
| work as the world's smallest API-driven cloud.
|
| > By following the instructions in this article, you'll be able
| to deploy scheduled tasks, webhook receivers, web pages and
| functions to your pocket-sized cloud from anywhere using a REST
| API.
| [deleted]
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