f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation

2024-12-02T23:46:16+02:00

f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation

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+This is the second blog post about my f3s series for my self-hosting demands in my home lab. f3s? The "f" stands for FreeBSD, and the "3s" stands for k3s, the Kubernetes distribution I will use on FreeBSD-based physical machines.
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+We set the stage last time; this time, we will set up the hardware for this project.
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+These are all the posts so far:
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+2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage
+2024-12-03 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation (You are currently reading this)
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+
+
+Logo was generated by ChatGPT.
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+Let's continue...
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+

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+

f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation
⇢ Deciding on the hardware
⇢ ⇢ Not ARM but Intel N100
⇢ ⇢ Beelink unboxing
⇢ ⇢ Network switch
⇢ Installing FreeBSD
⇢ ⇢ Base install
⇢ ⇢ Latest patch level and customizing /etc/hosts
⇢ ⇢ Additional packages after install
⇢ Hardware check
⇢ ⇢ Ethernet
⇢ ⇢ RAM
⇢ ⇢ CPUs
⇢ ⇢ CPU throttling
⇢ Conclusion

Deciding on the hardware

+
+Note that the OpenBSD VMs included in the F3S setup (which will be used later in this blog series for internet ingress) are already there. These are virtual machines that I rent at OpenBSD Amsterdam and Hetzner.
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+https://openbsd.amsterdam
+https://hetzner.cloud
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+This means that the FreeBSD boxes need to be covered, which will later be running k3s in Linux VMs via bhyve hypervisor.
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+I've been considering whether to use Raspberry Pis or look for alternatives. It turns out that complete N100-based mini-computers aren't much more expensive than Raspberry Pi 5s, and they don't require assembly. Furthermore, I like that they are AMD64 and not ARM-based, which increases compatibility with some applications (e.g., I might want to virtualize Windows (via bhyve) on one of those, though that's out of scope for this blog series).
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+

Not ARM but Intel N100

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+I needed something compact, efficient, and capable enough to handle the demands of a small-scale Kubernetes cluster and preferably something I don't have to assemble a lot. After researching, I decided on the Beelink S12 Pro with Intel N100 CPUs.
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+Beelink Min S12 Pro N100 official page
+
+The Intel N100 CPUs are built on the "Alder Lake-N" architecture. These chips are designed to balance performance and energy efficiency well. With four cores, they're more than capable of running multiple containers, even with moderate workloads. Plus, they consume only 6W of power, keeping the electricity bill low and the setup quiet - perfect for 24/7 operation.
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+
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+The Beelink comes with the following specs:
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+

12th Gen Intel N100 processor, with four cores and four threads, and a maximum frequency of up to 3.4 GHz.
16 GB of DDR4 RAM, with a maximum (official) size of 16 GB (but people could install 32 GB on it).
500 GB M.2 SSD, with the option to install a 2nd 2.5 SSD drive (which I want to use later in this blog series).
GBit ethernet
Four USB 3.2 Gen2 ports (maybe I want to mount something externally at some point)
Dimensions and weight: 115*102*39mm, 280g
Silent cooling system.
HDMI output (needed only for the initial installation)
Auto power on via WoL (may make use of it)
Wi-Fi (not going to use it)

+I bought three (3) of them for the cluster I intend to build.
+
+

Beelink unboxing

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+Unboxing was uneventful. Every Beelink PC came with:
+
+

An AC power adapter
An HDMI cable
A VESA mount with screws (not using it as of now)
Some manuals
The pre-assembled Beelink PC itself.
A "Hello" post card (??)

+Overall, I love the small form factor.
+
+

Network switch

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+I went with the TP-Link mini 5-port switch, as I had a spare one available. That switch will be plugged into my wall Ethernet port, which connects directly to my fiber internet router with 100 Mbit/s down and 50 Mbit/s upload speed.
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+
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+

Installing FreeBSD

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+

Base install

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+First, I downloaded the boot-only ISO of the latest FreeBSD release and dumped it on a USB stick on my Fedora laptop:
+
+ +

[paul@earth]~/Downloads% sudo dd \
+  if=FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso \
+  of=/dev/sda conv=sync
+

+
+Next, I plugged the Beelinks (one after another) into my monitor via HDMI (the resolution of the FreeBSD text console seems strangely stretched, as I am using the LG Dual Up monitor), connected Ethernet, an external USB keyboard, and the FreeBSD USB stick, and booted the devices up. With F7, I entered the boot menu and selected the USB stick for the FreeBSD installation.
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+The installation was uneventful. I selected:
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+

Guided ZFS on root (pool zroot)
Unencrypted ZFS (I will encrypt separate datasets later; I want it to be able to boot without human interaction)
Static IP configuration (to ensure that the boxes always have the same IPs, even after switching the router/DHCP server)
I decided to enable the SSH daemon, NTP server, and NTP time synchronization at boot, and I also enabled powerd for automatic CPU frequency scaling.
In addition to root, I added a personal user, paul, whom I placed in the wheel group.

+After doing all that three times (once for each Beelink PC), I had three ready-to-use FreeBSD boxes! Their hostnames are f0, f1 and f2!
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+
+
+

Latest patch level and customizing /etc/hosts

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+After the first boot, I upgraded to the latest FreeBSD patch level as follows:
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+ +

root@f0:~ # freebsd-update fetch
+root@f0:~ # freebsd-update install
+root@f0:~ # freebsd-update reboot
+

+
+I also added the following entries for the three FreeBSD boxes to the /etc/hosts file:
+ +

root@f0:~ # cat <>/etc/hosts
+192.168.1.130 f0 f0.lan f0.lan.buetow.org
+192.168.1.131 f1 f1.lan f1.lan.buetow.org
+192.168.1.132 f2 f2.lan f2.lan.buetow.org
+END
+

+
+

Additional packages after install

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+After that, I installed the following additional packages:
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+ +

root@f0:~ # pkg install helix doas zfs-periodic uptimed
+

+
+Helix? It's my favourite text editor. I have nothing against vi but like hx (Helix) more!
+
+doas? It's a pretty neat (and KISS) replacement for sudo. It has far fewer features than sudo, which is supposed to make it more secure. Its origin is the OpenBSD project. For doas, I accepted the default configuration (where users in the wheel group are allowed to run commands as root):
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+ +

root@f0:~ # cp /usr/local/etc/doas.conf.sample /usr/local/etc/doas.conf
+

+
+zfs-periodic is a nifty tool for automatically creating ZFS snapshots. I decided to go with the following configuration here:
+
+ +

root@f0:~ # sysrc daily_zfs_snapshot_enable=YES
+daily_zfs_snapshot_enable:  -> YES
+root@f0:~ # sysrc daily_zfs_snapshot_pools=zroot
+daily_zfs_snapshot_pools:  -> zroot
+root@f0:~ # sysrc daily_zfs_snapshot_keep=7
+daily_zfs_snapshot_keep:  -> 7
+root@f0:~ # sysrc weekly_zfs_snapshot_enable=YES
+weekly_zfs_snapshot_enable:  -> YES
+root@f0:~ # sysrc weekly_zfs_snapshot_pools=zroot
+weekly_zfs_snapshot_pools:  -> zroot
+root@f0:~ # sysrc weekly_zfs_snapshot_keep=5
+weekly_zfs_snapshot_keep:  -> 5
+root@f0:~ # sysrc monthly_zfs_snapshot_enable=YES
+monthly_zfs_snapshot_enable:  -> YES
+root@f0:~ # sysrc monthly_zfs_snapshot_pools=zroot
+monthly_zfs_snapshot_pools:  -> zroot
+root@f0:~ # sysrc weekly_zfs_snapshot_keep=2
+weekly_zfs_snapshot_keep: 5 -> 2
+

+
+uptimed? I like to track my uptimes. This is how I configured the daemon:
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+ +

root@f0:~ # cp /usr/local/mimecast/etc/uptimed.conf-dist \
+  /usr/local/mimecast/etc/uptimed.conf 
+root@f0:~ # hx /usr/local/mimecast/etc/uptimed.conf
+

+
+In the Helix editor session, I changed LOG_MAXIMUM_ENTRIES to 0 to keep all uptime entries forever and not cut off at 50 (the default config). After that, I enabled and started uptimed:
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+ +

root@f0:~ # service uptimed enable
+root@f0:~ # service uptimed start
+

+
+To check the current uptime stats, I can now run uprecords:
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+ +

 root@f0:~ # uprecords
+     #               Uptime | System                                     Boot up
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------
+->   1     0 days, 00:07:34 | FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE      Mon Dec  2 12:21:44 2024
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------
+NewRec     0 days, 00:07:33 | since                     Mon Dec  2 12:21:44 2024
+    up     0 days, 00:07:34 | since                     Mon Dec  2 12:21:44 2024
+  down     0 days, 00:00:00 | since                     Mon Dec  2 12:21:44 2024
+   %up              100.000 | since                     Mon Dec  2 12:21:44 2024
+

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+

Hardware check

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+

Ethernet

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+Works. Nothing eventful, really. It's a cheap Realtek chip, but it will do what it is supposed to do.
+
+ +

paul@f0:~ % ifconfig re0
+re0: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 1500
+        options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
+        ether e8:ff:1e:d7:1c:ac
+        inet 192.168.1.130 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
+        inet6 fe80::eaff:1eff:fed7:1cac%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
+        inet6 fd22:c702:acb7:0:eaff:1eff:fed7:1cac prefixlen 64 detached autoconf
+        inet6 2a01:5a8:304:1d5c:eaff:1eff:fed7:1cac prefixlen 64 autoconf pltime 10800 vltime 14400
+        media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
+        status: active
+        nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
+

+
+

RAM

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+All there:
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+ +

paul@f1:~ % sysctl hw.physmem
+hw.physmem: 16902905856
+
+

+
+

CPUs

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+Work:
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+ +

paul@f0:~ % sysctl dev.cpu | grep freq:
+dev.cpu.3.freq: 705
+dev.cpu.2.freq: 705
+dev.cpu.1.freq: 604
+dev.cpu.0.freq: 604
+

+
+

CPU throttling

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+With powerd running, CPU freq is dowthrottled when the box isn't jam-packed. To stress it a bit, I run ubench to see the frequencies being unthrottled again:
+
+ +

paul@f0:~ % doas pkg install ubench
+paul@f0:~ % rehash # For tcsh to find the newly installed command
+paul@f0:~ % ubench &
+paul@f0:~ % sysctl dev.cpu | grep freq:
+dev.cpu.3.freq: 2922
+dev.cpu.2.freq: 2922
+dev.cpu.1.freq: 2923
+dev.cpu.0.freq: 2922
+

+
+Idle, all three Beelinks plus the switch consumed 26.2W. But with ubench stressing all the CPUs, it went up to 38.8W.
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+
+
+

Conclusion

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+The Beelink S12 Pro with Intel N100 CPUs checks all the boxes for a k3s project: compact, efficient, expandable, and affordable. Its compatibility with both Linux and FreeBSD makes it versatile for other use cases, whether as part of your cluster or as a standalone system. If you’re looking for hardware that punches above its weight for Kubernetes, this little device deserves a spot on your shortlist.
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+To ease cable management, I need to get shorter Ethernet cables. I will place the tower on my shelf, where most of the cables will be hidden (together with a UPS, which will also be added to the setup).
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+What will be covered in the next post of this series? The bhyve/Rocky Linux and WireGuard setup as described in part 1 of this series.
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+Other *BSD-related posts:
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+2016-04-09 Jails and ZFS with Puppet on FreeBSD
+2022-07-30 Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex
+2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
+2024-01-13 One reason why I love OpenBSD
+2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD
+2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage
+2024-12-03 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation (You are currently reading this)
+
+E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)
+
+Back to the main site
+

f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage

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f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation

f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 2: Hardware and base installation

Table of Contents

Deciding on the hardware

Not ARM but Intel N100

Beelink unboxing

Network switch

Installing FreeBSD

Base install

Latest patch level and customizing /etc/hosts

Additional packages after install

Hardware check

Ethernet

RAM

CPUs

CPU throttling

Conclusion

f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage