Kubernetes Home Lab Enhancement

The Kubernetes Home Lab Enhancement is a comprehensive personal project aimed at transitioning from Docker-based deployments to a robust Kubernetes environment. This project integrates various cutting-edge technologies to enhance scalability, manageability, and efficiency. By leveraging k3s, self-hosted GitLab, ArgoCD, Helm, Traefik, Cert Manager, MetalLB, and GitLab Runners, it creates a highly functional and automated development and deployment ecosystem.

The primary goal of this project is to modernize my home lab infrastructure. I set up a lightweight Kubernetes cluster with k3s and hosted GitLab to control the CI/CD environment. ArgoCD was used for continuous delivery and deployment automation, while Helm facilitated application packaging and deployment. Traefik was implemented as an ingress controller for traffic management, and Cert Manager was integrated for automated TLS certificate management. Additionally, MetalLB was employed to provide local IP address load balancing since I don't have an external load balancer and only have one public IP. This allowed for efficient internal traffic management. GitLab Runners were run within the cluster for CI/CD pipeline jobs.

Both the live portfolio and its staging environment are hosted within this Kubernetes setup, demonstrating practical applications of these technologies and providing a real-world use case for the project. The CI/CD pipeline leverages self-hosted GitLab's features for automated pipelines, ensuring a streamlined and consistent deployment process, reducing the risk of human error, and improving deployment speed.

The benefits realized from this enhancement include:

• Improved scalability and manageability of the home lab environment
• Enhanced control over the development and deployment process
• Streamlined and automated CI/CD workflows
• Increased security and compliance with best practices for TLS management
• Optimized performance and resource utilization within the cluster

The Kubernetes Home Lab Enhancement project showcases my ability to integrate and utilize modern DevOps tools and practices. By transitioning from Docker-based deployments to a comprehensive Kubernetes environment, this project enhances my home lab's capabilities and demonstrates the potential of these technologies in a real-world scenario. The successful implementation of this project highlights my expertise in managing complex IT infrastructures and my commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements.