Prerequisites

Before deploying the cluster, ensure you have the following requirements met.

Hardware Requirements

Minimum Configuration

For a working cluster, you'll need at least 3 nodes (can be physical or VMs):

Role	Nodes	CPU	RAM	Storage
Control Plane	2	4 cores	16GB	256GB SSD
Worker	3	4 cores	16GB	256GB SSD

Control Plane Nodes

In this setup, all nodes can run workloads. The control plane nodes are configured with controlPlane: true but still accept pods.

Network Requirements

• Static IP addresses for all nodes
• Same Layer 2 network (or proper routing configured)
• Internet connectivity for pulling images
• Unique MAC addresses for each node

Software Requirements

Local Workstation

Your workstation needs these tools installed:

Tool	Purpose	Install via mise?
mise	Tool version manager	Manual install
task	Task automation	✅ Yes
kubectl	Kubernetes CLI	✅ Yes
talosctl	Talos CLI	✅ Yes
talhelper	Talos config generator	✅ Yes
flux	GitOps CLI	✅ Yes
sops	Secret encryption	✅ Yes
age	Encryption keys	✅ Yes
cilium	Cilium CLI	✅ Yes
helm	Helm CLI	✅ Yes
kustomize	Kustomize CLI	✅ Yes
yq	YAML processor	✅ Yes
jq	JSON processor	✅ Yes

Installing Tools

This repository uses mise to manage tool versions:

# 1. Install mise (one-time setup)
curl https://mise.run | sh

# 2. Activate mise in your shell
# Follow instructions at: https://mise.jdx.dev/getting-started.html#activate-mise

# 3. Install all tools from .mise.toml
cd home-ops
mise trust
pip install pipx  # Required for Python tools
mise install

Cloud Accounts

Cloudflare (Required)

You need a Cloudflare account with:

• A registered domain under your account
• API token with these permissions:
• Zone:DNS:Edit
• Account:Cloudflare Tunnel:Read

See the Cloudflare token creation docs for details.

GitHub (Required)

• GitHub account to host this repository
• Repository (public or private)
• For private repos: Deploy key configured (generated during setup)

Operating System Images

Talos Linux

You'll need to prepare Talos installation media:

1. Visit Talos Image Factory
2. Select minimal system extensions needed for your hardware
3. Download ISO (for bare metal) or RAW image (for VMs/SBCs)
4. Note the schematic ID - you'll need this in nodes.yaml

System Extensions

Only select extensions you absolutely need. Some extensions require additional configuration and may prevent boot if misconfigured.

Node Preparation

Before installing Talos:

1. Flash the Talos image to USB drives or configure PXE boot
2. Boot each node from the Talos media
3. Verify network connectivity:

   nmap -Pn -n -p 50000 10.0.0.0/16 -vv | grep 'Discovered'
   

4. Record each node's:
5. IP address
6. MAC address
7. Disk serial number or path

DNS Configuration

For proper operation, you should configure split DNS:

1. Internal DNS server (Pi-hole, Adguard, router, etc.)
2. Forward *.yourdomain.com to the k8s-gateway IP (10.0.50.100)
3. Keep other queries going to your normal upstream DNS

This allows internal services to resolve correctly while external access goes through Cloudflare.

Optional but Recommended

• Backup solution for your data
• UPS for power protection
• Separate management network for Talos nodes
• Monitoring (Prometheus/Grafana can be added later)

Next Steps

Once you have all prerequisites ready:

→ Initial Setup - Deploy your cluster