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A Homelab Raspberry Pi Cluster

Fun and games with cheap compute ⚡

Oct 10, 2024 - 3 minute read

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Building a Raspberry Pi Cluster for My Homelab

I’ve always been obsessed by the idea of having my own homelab, a space to experiment with different technologies and learn new skills - and break things with no consequences. Recently, I decided to take the plunge and build a Raspberry Pi cluster. This blog post will summarize my experience, including the components I used and the challenges I faced.

Why a Raspberry Pi Cluster?

Raspberry Pis are affordable, low-powered, and surprisingly versatile single-board computers. By clustering them, we can create a more scalable system for various tasks and services, and open up a world of local distributed compute exploration with things like Docker Swarm and Kubernetes and every flavor between.

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Step 1: Components

Parts List:

  • x5 Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
  • x5 PIMORONI Aluminium Heatsink Case
  • x5 USB-A to USB-C 6 inch cables
  • x5 CAT 5/6 3 inch cables
  • x1 Netgear GS108Ev3 Switch
  • x1 Anker 60W 10-Port Desktop Charger
  • x2 80mm USB Powered Fans

Details:

  • To kick things off I grabbed 5 of the Raspberry Pi 4 B - why did I choose these? Because they are affordable when compared to the newer Raspberry Pi 5 series, and they have lower power requirements - which makes my power solution much easier to deliver in a small enclosure.

  • For this project I chose an enclosure that I could 3D print. Note that there are tons of Raspi cluster solutions you can print out there, but because I like doing things the hard way (more to come on what that means) - I chose this one.

  • Due to my choice, I was temporarily locked into using a meh Netgear GS108Ev3 switch, which I happened to have laying around anyways, and an out of production Anker 60W 10-port Desktop Charger (thanks ebay!!)

  • The Pis themselves slot into the case using a specific Aluminum Heatsink Case, which were cheap/east to grab off of Amazon.

  • To keep it all relatively cool, i then grabbed x2 USB Fans off of Amazon as well. The only requirements here are that you can power the fans from 5v USB - but I wanted some control, so I grabbed a prewired USB dual fan setup with a speed controller that I could hack up and mount to the rear grill of the enclosure.

Step 2: Print the Enclosure

Let the fun begin.

Beware: This enclosure is great. However, it is also huge. The main body alone will take you over a day and half to print (settings will +/- this) - and will require a full spool of filament to get done in one shot.

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More to come soon(tm)