Welcome to BoniClaud

New Node

I finally got around to increase the storage space on the second node of the cluster. And while doing so also automated the process of adding new nodes.

HomeLab March 30, 2025

Project Skald

A seconds project will join Project Svartalf. The new project: Skald. I started to dabble into AI and as always went way deeper than necessary. So the new project is to build a chat-bot for my pen and paper notes.

Tits&Tats March 23, 2025

Plug Day

I added a Raspberry Pi 5 to my home lab to expand my Kubernetes cluster but ran into unexpected power issues, requiring a new Anker 335 USB charger. After carefully swapping power supplies and rebalancing workloads, the cluster is now fully operational across two nodes, significantly reducing CPU and memory usage while eliminating overheating issues. However, the RPi5’s 32GB microSD card is too small, so a storage upgrade will be the next step.

HomeLab March 9, 2025

Monitor Everything

The monitoring setup with Prometheus, Grafana, and the Blackbox exporter revealed that while memory usage was acceptable, the single node’s CPU utilization hovered around 80% at idle, leaving little room before thermal throttling occurred. This insight highlighted the urgent need for more computing power, guiding the decision to upgrade to a more powerful, ARM-based node—specifically, the Raspberry Pi 5.

HomeLab March 2, 2025

Preparing for Upgrade

The blog post details the preparations made to upgrade the BoniClaud cluster by addressing legacy issues, including hardcoded IPs, certificate management, and performance optimizations. Key changes included fixing deployment configurations, streamlining HTTPS with self-signed certificates, and optimizing the blog’s performance and caching through Cloudflare. With these upgrades, the cluster is ready to integrate a second node.

HomeLab February 23, 2025

Project Svartalf

Project Svartalf expands the BoniClaud cluster by adding a second Raspberry Pi, increasing computational power and enabling a more modular, resilient setup. The project also introduces Kasm for virtualized workspaces, allowing for development and cluster management from the couch. While the process was more challenging than expected, this upgrade marks a major step toward a more scalable and flexible home cloud.

HomeLab February 16, 2025