Apendix¶

These are instructions that were not fitting in any category

Controloning the cluster from other computers¶

Installing Ansible¶

Since I have a couple raspberries to manage, I will be using Ansible for that purpose. So before we start, we have to install ansible for managing the nodes.

The instructions from the official page are:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository --yes --update ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt install ansible

Installing kubectl to manage the cluster¶

Just install kubectl to the other computer and copy the necessary files

sudo snap install kubectl
# Copy the config file to the local computer in .kube folder

Installing Helm for deploying services¶

Just follow the instructions from the official page

Decrypting kubectl secrets¶

If we want to see the secret we can use:

kubectl -n longhorn-system get secret longhorn-crypto --template={{.data.CRYPTO_KEY_VALUE}} | base64 -d
kubectl -n authentication get secret openldap-admin -o jsonpath="{.data.admin-password}" | base64 -d

Building the documentations¶

The documentation pages were build with MkDocs and use the Material theme

What you need to build them:

pip3 install mkdocs
pip3 install mkdocs-material
pip3 install mkdocs-same-dir
mkdocs serve
mkdocs build

Listing the running containers on a node¶

sudo k3s crictl ps

Removing failed nodes from the etcd cluster¶

If a node fails it is not as simple to remove it and re-add it. Sometimes the failed node will remain part of the etcd cluster. So will we have first to remove it from the etcd cluster.

kubectl delete node failed_node

If the master nodes are tainted we will have to remove the taint for the moment to be able to schedule a pod:

kubectl taint nodes other_master_node node-role.kubernetes.io/master=true:NoSchedule-

Then we can create a pod to manipulate the etcd cluster

# https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/issues/2732#issuecomment-749484037
kubectl run --rm --tty --stdin --image quay.io/coreos/etcd:v3.5.4 etcdctl --overrides='{"apiVersion":"v1","kind":"Pod","spec":{"hostNetwork":true,"restartPolicy":"Never","securityContext":{"runAsUser":0,"runAsGroup":0},"containers":[{"command":["/bin/sh"],"image":"docker.io/rancher/coreos-etcd:v3.5.4-arm64","name":"etcdctl","stdin":true,"stdinOnce":true,"tty":true,"volumeMounts":[{"mountPath":"/var/lib/rancher","name":"var-lib-rancher"}]}],"volumes":[{"name":"var-lib-rancher","hostPath":{"path":"/var/lib/rancher","type":"Directory"}}],"nodeSelector":{"node-role.kubernetes.io/etcd":"true"}}}'

etcdctl --key /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.key --cert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.crt --cacert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/server-ca.crt member list
etcdctl --key /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.key --cert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.crt --cacert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/server-ca.crt member remove 1234567890ABCDEF

and the we re-taint the node

kubectl taint nodes other_master_node node-role.kubernetes.io/master=true:NoSchedule

Finally we can use the cluster_setup/setup_cluster.yml to re-populate the node.

Note

Remember to change the invetory if necessary

Defrag the etcd nodes¶

ansible amphitrite -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'curl -L https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/download/v3.5.9/etcd-v3.5.9-linux-arm64.tar.gz -o /tmp/etcd-v3.5.9-linux-arm64.tar.gz'
ansible amphitrite -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'tar xzvf /tmp/etcd-v3.5.9-linux-arm64.tar.gz -C /tmp --strip-components=1'
ansible amphitrite -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a '/tmp/etcdctl version'
ansible amphitrite -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a '/tmp/etcdctl --key /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.key --cert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.crt --cacert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/server-ca.crt member list' 
ansible amphitrite -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a '/tmp/etcdctl --key /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.key --cert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.crt --cacert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/server-ca.crt defrag --endpoints=[192.168.179.100:2379] ' 
ansible amphitrite -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a '/tmp/etcdctl --key /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.key --cert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/client.crt --cacert /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/tls/etcd/server-ca.crt defrag --cluster'

Resources: * https://gist.github.com/superseb/0c06164eef5a097c66e810fe91a9d408

Updating the raspberry pi firmware¶

If you have already an installed ubuntu on the Raspberry Pi you can execute:

sudo apt-get install rpi-eeprom

sudo rpi-eeprom-update
BCM2711 detected
Dedicated VL805 EEPROM detected
*** UPDATE AVAILABLE ***
BOOTLOADER: update available
CURRENT: Mon Jul 15 12:59:55 UTC 2019 (1563195595)
 LATEST: Thu Sep  3 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
 FW DIR: /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/default
VL805: update available
CURRENT: 00013701
 LATEST: 000138a1

sudo rpi-eeprom-update -a
sudo reboot

or via ansible:

ansible all -b -m package -a "name=rpi-eeprom"
ansible all -b -m shell -a "rpi-eeprom-update"
ansible all -b -m shell -a "rpi-eeprom-update -a"
ansible all -b -m reboot

If you have not already set-up the Raspberry Pi, then we will have to write first an sd card that will update the firmware

Change the USB_MSD_PWR_OFF_TIME¶

Some times the USB devices are not re-attache after a reboot.

sudo apt-get install rpi-eeprom

sudo rpi-eeprom-update
BCM2711 detected
Dedicated VL805 EEPROM detected
*** UPDATE AVAILABLE ***
BOOTLOADER: update available
CURRENT: Mon Jul 15 12:59:55 UTC 2019 (1563195595)
 LATEST: Thu Sep  3 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
 FW DIR: /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/default
VL805: update available
CURRENT: 00013701
 LATEST: 000138a1

sudo rpi-eeprom-config --edit

# Add USB_MSD_PWR_OFF_TIME=0 in the end
sudo reboot

Enabling the fans¶

The raspberry pi 4 have the tendancy to get warm. So it is wise to have a fan. I am using PWN fans, so I can enable the fans based on the temperature. But to achieve that we need to install and compile some libraries.

For convienience I am already including under the folder node_setup/fans the necessary binaries. But if we need to cross compiling the code follow the below instructions:

sudo apt-get install git build-essential gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu binutils-aarch64-linux-gnu
wget http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/bcm2835/bcm2835-1.71.tar.gz
tar zxvf bcm2835-1.71.tar.gz
cd bcm2835-1.71
./configure --build x86_64-pc-linux-gnu --host aarch64-linux-gnu 
make

cd ..
git clone https://gist.github.com/1c13096c4cd675f38405702e89e0c536.git
cd 1c13096c4cd675f38405702e89e0c536
make CC=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc LIBS="../bcm2835-1.71/src/libbcm2835.a -I../bcm2835-1.71/src/"

Note

To print the current temperature of the node, we can use cpu=$(</sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp) echo "$((cpu/1000)) c"

Generating the kube-vip manifests¶

curl https://kube-vip.io/manifests/rbac.yaml > kube-vip-manifest.yaml

### Append --- in the file

sudo docker run --network host \
--rm plndr/kube-vip:v0.8.0 manifest daemonset \
--interface eth0 \
--address zeus.intra \
--inCluster \
--taint \
--controlplane \
--arp \
--leaderElection | sudo tee --append kube-vip-manifest.yaml

# The default configuration always downloads the image (even if it is present). 
# To reduce the amount of data that we download from docker hub we will change it by setting the pull policy to IfNotPresent in:

To update it in the nodes ansible masters -b -m copy -a "src=cluster_setup/kube-vip-manifest.yaml dest=/var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests/vip.yaml" To retrieve the logs kubectl -n kube-system logs -f -l "app.kubernetes.io/name=kube-vip-ds"

Pulling images to nodes using k3s ctr¶

To pull an image that is too big before hand just execute ansible workers -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'k3s ctr image pull registry.hub.docker.com/library/nextcloud:28.0.1-apache'

Drain a node¶

kubectl drain <node name>
ansible <node name> -b -m community.general.shutdown
kubectl uncordon <node name>

Security benchmark¶

We can use the:

kube-bench

sh curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aquasecurity/kube-bench/main/job.yaml > kube-bench-job.yaml kubectl apply -f kube-bench-job.yaml kubectl logs kube-bench-kp8sv kubectl delete pod kube-bench-kp8sv kubectl delete -f kube-bench-job.yaml rm kube-bench-job.yaml

Resources:¶

https://kube-vip.io/usage/k3s/
https://github.com/212850a/k3s-ansible/commit/930f32432d72fd911822e6a29f253ff545a2a2ee
https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/issues/2732#issuecomment-749484037
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/safely-drain-node/

Go over them¶

https://hub.docker.com/r/osminogin/tor-simple https://tufin.medium.com/how-to-use-a-proxy-with-go-http-client-cfc485e9f342

https://ikarus.sg/using-zram-to-get-more-out-of-your-raspberry-pi/

Troubleshooting¶

Updating the configuration¶

For updating the configuration of the running cluster we need acces to one of the master nodes (because we need access to the kubadm tool). So log in to the master node and:

kubectl get cm -o yaml -n kube-system kubeadm-config > kubeadm-config.yaml

Now we can edit our configuration. To validate them we can run

kubeadm upgrade diff --config kubeadm-config.yaml

and to apply them just execute:

kubeadm upgrade apply --config kubeadm-config.yaml

Resources:

https://opensource.com/article/20/6/kubernetes-raspberry-pi
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1189480/raspberry-pi-4-ubuntu-19-10-cannot-enable-cgroup-memory-at-boostrap
https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/blob/master/docs/ha-considerations.md#kube-vip
https://thebsdbox.co.uk/2020/01/02/Designing-Building-HA-bare-metal-Kubernetes-cluster/#Networking-load-balancing
https://tanzu.vmware.com/content/blog/exploring-kube-apiserver-load-balancers-for-on-premises-kubernetes-clusters
https://icicimov.github.io/blog/kubernetes/Kubernetes-cluster-step-by-step-Part5/
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56634139/how-to-use-the-master-node-as-worker-node-in-kubernetes-cluster
https://www.shogan.co.uk/kubernetes/building-a-pi-kubernetes-cluster-part-3-worker-nodes-and-metallb/
https://opensource.com/article/20/7/homelab-metallb
https://blog.lzoledziewski.pl/2020/06/01/noctua-5v-pwm-fan-rpi-4/
https://blog.driftking.tw/en/2019/11/Using-Raspberry-Pi-to-Control-a-PWM-Fan-and-Monitor-its-Speed/
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=244194
https://gist.github.com/alwynallan/1c13096c4cd675f38405702e89e0c536

In the case a master node fails we will have to remove him from the etcd cluster

Resources: * https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/1300#issuecomment-464955084

kubectl delete node <name>

kubectl -n kube-system exec -it etcd-melpomene -- etcdctl --endpoints https://127.0.0.1:2379 --cacert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt --cert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.crt --key /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.key member list

kubectl -n kube-system exec -it etcd-melpomene -- etcdctl --endpoints https://127.0.0.1:2379 --cacert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt --cert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.crt --key /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.key member remove 4985985992cc00d

# Remove from kubeadm-config

kubectl -n kube-system get cm kubeadm-config -o yaml > /tmp/conf.yml
manually edit /tmp/conf.yml to remove the old server
kubectl -n kube-system apply -f /tmp/conf.yml

sudo apt-get install -y --allow-change-held-packages kubeadm=1.21.x-00 kubelet=1.21.x-00 kubectl=1.21.x-00

sudo apt-get install -y --allow-change-held-packages kubeadm=1.21.2-00 kubelet=1.21.2-00 kubectl=1.21.2-00
sudo kubeadm upgrade apply v1.21.2
sudo apt-mark hold kubelet kubeadm kubectl

Take a look at:

https://github.com/nextcloud/helm
https://geek-cookbook.funkypenguin.co.nz/recipes/jellyfin/
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/users/index.html
https://github.com/home-cluster/jellyfin-openshift/blob/master/deploy/deployment.yaml
https://github.com/home-cluster/jellyfin-openshift/blob/master/deploy/deployment.yaml
https://github.com/cdwv/bitwarden-k8s/blob/master/chart/bitwarden-k8s/templates/deployment.yaml
https://github.com/guerzon/bitwarden-kubernetes
https://greg.jeanmart.me/2020/04/13/self-host-your-password-manager-with-bitward/

Removing a master node¶

If a master node fails, we will have also to update the etcd nodes, to remove it from the etcd cluster

kubectl delete node <name>

kubectl -n kube-system exec -it etcd-melpomene -- etcdctl --endpoints https://127.0.0.1:2379 \
    --cacert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt \
    --cert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.crt \
    --key /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.key member list

kubectl -n kube-system exec -it etcd-melpomene -- etcdctl --endpoints https://127.0.0.1:2379 \
    --cacert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt \
    --cert /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.crt \
    --key /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/server.key member remove <node_id>

# Remove from kubeadm-config

kubectl -n kube-system get cm kubeadm-config -o yaml > /tmp/conf.yml
manually edit /tmp/conf.yml to remove the old server
kubectl -n kube-system apply -f /tmp/conf.yml

General problems with limits¶

I think these issues:

https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75682
https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/51135
https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore/issues/29150

are still valid because I saw thottling when I monitored the cluster. So I deactivated the limits for the CPU. Theoretically it should not cause problems, only some throttling if the cpu is overused in the node.

Resources¶

https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/1300#issuecomment-464955084
https://blog.honosoft.com/2020/01/31/kubeadm-how-to-upgrade-update-your-configuration/
https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/1464

- name: Check packages¶

package_facts:¶

manager: auto¶

- name: Install open-iscsi¶

package:¶

name: open-iscsi¶

when: not "'open-iscsi' in ansible_facts.packages"¶

- name: check services¶

service_facts:¶

- name: print¶

debug:¶

msg: "iscsid is {{ ansible_facts.services['iscsid.service']['status'] }}"¶

when: "'iscsid.service' in ansible_facts.services"¶

ansible masters -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'cat /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt' ansible masters -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'cat /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests/coredns-local.yaml' ansible masters -b -m copy -a "src=cluster_setup/coredns.yaml dest=/var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests/coredns-local.yaml"

ansible masters -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'rm /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests/coredns.yaml' ansible erato -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'ls -al /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests/'

ansible erato -b -m ansible.builtin.service -a 'name=k3s state=restarted'

ansible erato -b -m ansible.builtin.shell -a 'k3s etcd -h'

kubectl run -ti --rm busybox-libc --image=busybox:1.35.0-glibc --restart=Never -- /bin/sh

Apendix¶

Controloning the cluster from other computers¶

Installing Ansible¶

Installing kubectl to manage the cluster¶

Installing Helm for deploying services¶

Decrypting kubectl secrets¶

Building the documentations¶

Listing the running containers on a node¶

Removing failed nodes from the etcd cluster¶

Defrag the etcd nodes¶

Updating the raspberry pi firmware¶

Change the USB_MSD_PWR_OFF_TIME¶

Enabling the fans¶

Generating the kube-vip manifests¶

Pulling images to nodes using k3s ctr¶

Drain a node¶

Security benchmark¶

Resources:¶

Go over them¶

Troubleshooting¶

Updating the configuration¶

Removing a master node¶

General problems with limits¶

Resources¶

- name: Check packages¶

package_facts:¶

manager: auto¶

- name: Install open-iscsi¶

package:¶

name: open-iscsi¶

when: not "'open-iscsi' in ansible_facts.packages"¶

- name: check services¶

service_facts:¶

- name: print¶

debug:¶

msg: "iscsid is {{ ansible_facts.services['iscsid.service']['status'] }}"¶

when: "'iscsid.service' in ansible_facts.services"¶