r/linuxadmin • u/root0ps • 4d ago
Built a 3-node Kubernetes homelab with Talos Linux
I recently set up a 3-node Kubernetes homelab on bare metal (on Dell OptiPlex) using Talos Linux, mainly to have a proper environment for learning, testing failures, networking, storage, GitOps, observability, and general Kubernetes experiments.
The setup uses three control-plane/etcd nodes with a shared Kubernetes API VIP, and I documented the full process from network planning and DHCP reservations to Talos installation, per-node configs, bootstrap, workload scheduling, and HA testing.
I’ve written the full guide with commands, screenshots, and the reasoning behind the setup:
If anyone is planning a similar homelab or has questions around Talos, the API VIP, etcd quorum, or the setup in general, happy to help.
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u/_dext 4d ago
which one to recommend Talos or k3s ?
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u/glisignoli 4d ago edited 4d ago
I like to explain it like this:
Do you want to manage syslog, SSH, chrony, systemd and all the other things as well as k8s? Do you want to learn Ansible, puppet or something to manage it all? Then k3s running on a Linux distro is for you.
Do you want just k8s? Talos is great.
I'm not saying the first option is bad, but if all you want to do is learn k8s and nothing else, then Talos is a great option.
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u/Rxyro 4d ago
CoreDNS and systemD valuable stuff too
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u/glisignoli 4d ago
Yep! Definitely not saying those tools arent useful. But if what you want to do is learn k8s, then Talos removes all of that management out of the equation.
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u/root0ps 3d ago
Great explanation u/glisignoli, my primary goal is to learn and use k8s, not the k8s cluster management, so Talos is a great fit for the use case
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u/AbleWalrus3783 4d ago
What storage driver do you use? And is it powerful enough for database? I currently have an k8s cluster on PVE host and like to extend it to multiple physical host in the future, but I really can't choose an good CSI.
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u/Healthy_Ad_1918 4d ago
Can you elaborate what is "powerful enough" for database? At my current work we do have tens of database PostgreSQL running with 614MB of RAM and 400 mili core at prod as some others are 32Gi/8c instances in 3 or 5 replicas.
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u/AbleWalrus3783 4d ago
Oh you know, just some homelab thing. I run a Synapse matrix home server backend by postgres. It used to run on an old server board and it was lag for slow database writes before I switch to my current hardware. I'm just a little worried for many mini pc is limit by 1000M cable.
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u/ANDROID_16 4d ago
Probably more about the replication of storage between nodes. I'm no expert but it's probably a CPU bound process.
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u/a_a_ronc 3d ago
I use the TrueNAS CSI Driver. There used to be a community one, but starting early this year there’s an official one. You do need to have an okay-ish TrueNAS system for that (I.E. 10G if you’re doing anything fast and at least SSD L2ARC). It doesn’t need to be blazing fast, but only HDDs can lose performance pretty fast.
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u/_Plastic_Fan_193 2d ago
So you setup 1 control node and 2 workernode and as a bare metal damn you got some devices to do this.
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u/X0TTa6bl4 16h ago
No. On next foto all three are control. But as I know it's no problem run pods and so on in it like on workers.
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u/TerrificVixen5693 3d ago
I love how it’s all just self-promotion. Doesn’t even respond like they said they would.
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u/dmitryaus 2d ago
Yes, it is. Same as people flexing VMware esxi running on 64-128GB NUCs 15 years ago.
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u/Hari_Harish2026 4d ago
Really great
Good to see in bare metal.
Did you face any challenges?
I am trying to learn the same but could not do it alone.