Inception of Things

A collection of infrastructure automation projects that demonstrate modern DevOps practices using industry-standard tools for container orchestration and infrastructure as code.

Core Technologies

• Vagrant: Tool for building and managing virtual machine environments
• VirtualBox: Hypervisor for running virtual machines
• K3s: Lightweight Kubernetes distribution by Rancher (perfect for development and edge computing)
• Kubernetes: Container orchestration platform
• Docker: Container runtime (used by K3s)
• NGINX Ingress Controller: For managing external access to services
• Debian Bookworm: Linux distribution used for all VMs

Project Structure

p1/ - Basic K3s Cluster Setup

• Purpose: Demonstrate a minimal production-like Kubernetes cluster setup
• Technologies:
  • K3s (Kubernetes distribution)
  • Systemd (service management)
  • SSH key-based authentication
• Components:
  • Server Node (mhaddaouS):
    • K3s control plane components
    • etcd key-value store (embedded in K3s)
    • Kubernetes API server
  • Worker Node (mhaddaouSW):
    • K3s agent
    • Container runtime (containerd)
• Networking:
  • Private network: 192.168.56.0/24 (VirtualBox Host-Only Network)
  • Server IP: 192.168.56.110
  • Worker IP: 192.168.56.111
  • Flannel CNI (Container Network Interface) for pod networking

p2/ - Multi-Application Kubernetes Deployment

• Purpose: Showcase a complete application deployment pipeline on Kubernetes
• Technologies:
  • Kubernetes Deployments
  • Kubernetes Services (ClusterIP)
  • Ingress NGINX Controller
  • Kubernetes Secrets (for Docker Hub credentials)
  • YAML configuration management
• Components:
  • Single Node Cluster (alouziziS):
    • K3s server with all control plane components
    • Container runtime (containerd)
    • Built-in service load balancer (Klipper)
  • Application Stack:
    • Multiple web applications containerized and deployed as separate services
    • Service discovery via Kubernetes DNS
    • Ingress rules for HTTP/HTTPS routing
    • Configuration management using ConfigMaps and Secrets

p3/ - Advanced Kubernetes Configuration

• Purpose: Store additional Kubernetes manifests and configurations
• Contents:
  • Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs)
  • Helm charts (if applicable)
  • Advanced networking policies
  • Storage class definitions
  • RBAC configurations

bonus/ - Additional Automation and Tools

• Purpose: Extra utilities and enhancements
• Contents:
  • Custom scripts for cluster management
  • Monitoring stack configurations (Prometheus, Grafana)
  • Logging solutions (Loki, Fluentd)
  • CI/CD pipeline (ArgoCD/GitLab)
  • GitLab local server (for ArgoCD)
  • Security hardening scripts

Prerequisites

1. VirtualBox
2. Vagrant
3. SSH key pair (for authentication)

Getting Started

p1 - Basic K3s Cluster

cd p1
vagrant up

This will:

1. Start two VMs (server and worker)
2. Install K3s on the server
3. Join the worker to the cluster
4. Configure SSH access

p2 - Multi-Application Deployment

cd p2
vagrant up

This will:

1. Start a single VM with K3s
2. Deploy multiple web applications
3. Set up services and ingress

Accessing the Cluster

For p1:

• SSH to server: vagrant ssh mhaddaouS
• SSH to worker: vagrant ssh mhaddaouSW
• Check nodes: kubectl get nodes

For p2:

• SSH to server: vagrant ssh alouziziS
• Check deployments: kubectl get deployments
• Check services: kubectl get services

Cleanup

To stop and remove VMs:

vagrant destroy -f

Notes

• Ensure you have sufficient system resources (RAM, CPU) to run the VMs
• The project uses Debian Bookworm as the base OS
• SSH keys are automatically configured for password-less access

Author

Project maintained by the Inception of Things team