HomeLab - the Hardware

Mini PCs for my Kubernetes cluster

I started building my HomeLab today! The plan is to have a Kubernetes cluster with multiple nodes running on mini PCs I bought a while ago. It was a great deal:

HP EliteDesk 705 G2 Mini for less than $100.

Actually, I bought 3 of these cute little machines. Each has a low power consumption CPU - the AMD A8-8600B with a TDP of ~15W, which is ideal for my HomeLab. With 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, they provide ideal hardware for Ubuntu Server and K3s.

Ubuntu Server Installation

I started by creating a bootable USB flash drive:

sudo dd if=~/Downloads/ubuntu-24.04.2-live-server-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Then, using the standard text-based installation wizard, I installed Ubuntu Server with:

• LVM with no encryption (intentionally - so after a restart it boots up without needing to type in a password to decrypt the storage)

• No additional Ubuntu Server snaps

• SSH server

The only post-installation configuration was disabling and stopping the ModemManager service. I have no idea why the system decided to enable that service, as the machine, as far as I know, does not have any modem. So I ran:

sudo systemctl disable ModemManager.service
sudo systemctl stop ModemManager.service

Next step is to install K3s.