My Private Cloud Reference Design
How to build a Private Cloud for about $500 that will fit in a Shoe Box

Introduction

Can you design and build a fully functioning Private Cloud Platform using a cluster of Raspberry PI’s using current Cloud Technologies?
I set out to answer this question.

This repository contains the design, code, and documentation for the My Private Cloud Reference Design, which is a project that implements a FULLY functioning Private Cloud using a cluster of Raspberry Pi 4's running on Raspbian OS, Docker, and Kubernetes that is all managed by a Portal Application implemented using Spring Boot and Java 15. By the way, there is nothing in this reference design that is specific to a Raspberry Pi 4. The Raspberry Pi 4 could easily be substitued for an Ubuntu Server running in a virtual machine. The research paper I wrote on this project can be found here.

Feel free to use this Reference Design to get started building your own Private Cloud!

A video demonstration can be seen here.
You can see how to build your own Private Cloud here.
You can find the User Guide here.

Features

• Fully functioning Private Cloud:
  • Capable of running any number of Web Servers, common Web Stacks, Databases, and Tools. Examples include:
    • Web Servers: Nginx and Apache (can be used to host too)
    • Web Stacks: PHP (7.1 and 7.4), PHP 7.4 Laravel, Java Tomcat (8.5 and 9.0), ASP.NET Core 5.0
    • Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
    • Tools: Visual Studio Code, NodeJS Development Server
  • Deploy Web Sites, Java Spring and Spring Boot applications, PHP and PHP Laravel applications, Express, React, Angular applications
• Cloud Management:
  • Web based Portal Application
  • Desktop based Lens Application (with Prometheus)
  • RealVNC and SSH for accessing the Master Node
• Low cost:
  • A single Master Node and three Worker Node Cluster with Storage will cost about $500
• Cloud Compute Resources are easily extendable:
  • You can add a new Worker Node in less then an hour and that will only cost about $75
• Portal Application is easily extendable:
  • New Stacks can be easily added to the Catalog
  • You can add a new Stack with simple Portal database update and this can be done in just minutes
  • You can leverage your own custom Docker Images that you pushed to your Docker Hub repository
  • Communication with Kubernetes via a custom Java Cluster API that leverages the Fabric8 library
• Portal Application is easy to use:
  • Go to the Register menu and register for your own account
  • Go to the Login menu and log into the application
  • Go to the Catalog menu:
    • Pick your Stack or Database
    • Click the Customize button
    • Give your Application a Name
    • Select between a Tiny, Medium, and Large Container Size (amount of CPU and RAM)
    • Click the Provision button
  • Go to the My Apps menu:
    • Click the Deploy button to deploy a compressed version of your application
    • Click the Go button to access your application

Portal Screenshots

View the JavaDoc.

Login	Admin
Catalog - Web Servers	Catalog - Web App Servers
Catalog - Databases	Catalog - Tools
My Deployed Apps

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 4GB of RAM
• Raspberry Pi 4 32Gb SD Cards
• Raspberry Pi 4 Heat Sinks and Fans
• 7-Layer Dog Bone Enclosure
• Cat6 Ethernet Cables
• Port Gigibit Ethernet Network Switch
• Ehternet Cables
• 500GB WD USB-3 SSD Drive
• Power Strip

Software

• Raspberry Pi:
  • Raspbian OS (32-bit), Docker, Kubernetes
• Portal Application:
  • Spring Boot, Thymeleaf, Bootstrap, Java 15, and MySQL 8.0 database
• Other:
  • Lens (with Prometheus)
  • SQL Client (MySQL Workbench, DBeaver, and MongoDB Compass)

System Design

Logical Architecture	Physical Architecture
Building the Cluster	Building the Cluster
Final Cluster	Portal Database

Cloud Management and Monitoring

Lens - View Entire Cluster	Lens - View All Nodes
Lens - View All Pods	Manage Portal Users

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