You may have realized the usefulness of Raspberry Pi Clusters in learning, experimenting, and creating innovations. If you have never heard of it, let’s say it is a wise investment to enhance your skills and improve the performance of local computer systems.
However, why bother with a Raspberry Pi cluster when you can run the same processes on a typical desktop/laptop/server? This article will provide 12 use cases for Raspberry Pi clusters and explain why you might want to acquire one for your home lab or business.
Why Clusters?
The idea of clustering is not new and has been around for several years. Earlier, universities built clusters for research and development purposes. Nowadays, as developers, researchers, and data scientists begin to explore new technologies and do large “work” at home instead of in the cloud, cluster computing is gaining popularity. With a large number of low-cost single-board computers, this approach amounts to a kind of “home supercomputer.” Long-term resource-intensive projects can cause frustrating delays in any workflow, from video encoding to 3D rendering, to data parsing and mining, to CI/CD pipelines. All these can even bog down the most robust work machines. In some cases, running resource-intensive tasks locally instead of in the cloud also makes great economic sense.
Cloud-Native Technologies
Due to the complexity behind it, many people often misunderstand the concept of cloud computing. A popular misconception is that the cloud is just someone else’s computer. Well, cloud systems are not that simple. They involve many computers that form clusters interconnected by networks. If you want to create a personal cloud system, you need at least three computers. Of course, you can simulate a cloud system by using virtual machines or simply using a cloud provider. However, managing and configuring a cloud system on bare-metal clusters is different. You cannot just run many virtual machines on one CPU and see the same latency, concurrency, and resource usage issues as with an actual cluster.
Managing bare-metal servers instead of virtual machines requires more discipline in configuration, networking, and orchestration. These three skills are very helpful for many modern IT jobs.
– Jeff Geerling
Another thing is that you have complete control over performance, settings, and features on a bare-metal cluster. Learning the principles of cluster computing on hardware is the reason Los Alamos built Raspberry Pi clusters.
Why Raspberry Pi?
The answer is simple. So far, Raspberry Pi is the most popular single-board computer known for its affordable price. The Raspberry Pi community and software ecosystem are massive. The latest Raspberry Pi models offer gigabit Ethernet, USB 3, and two or eight gigabytes of memory while keeping the power bill low. You can also build a cluster using Dell or HP servers or even old laptops. You could get better performance and efficiency for each dollar spent, but imagine how much space you would need. Imagine all those cooling fans constantly running, blowing air into your face. A Raspberry Pi cluster offers you simplicity while being compact, portable, and extremely scalable.
Possibly the cheapest way to learn Kubernetes. Buy one along with three or more Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 3s. https://t.co/NDhVNPAMEy
— Justin Mitchell (@JustinMitchel) February 2, 2021
Raspberry Pi Cluster Use Cases
Let me be clear — Raspberry Pi is a Linux server. If you write code or do “DevOps” for your daily work, you have a use case.
– Alex Ellis
1. Learn, Experiment, Improve Skills
If your eyes are set on the high salaries in the IT industry and you want a slice of the pie, then a Raspberry Pi cluster is the best way to learn anything related to servers, networking, distributed systems, and security. Use a Raspberry Pi cluster to learn Linux or how to handle MySQL or Postgres databases. Learn how to install an Apache server, or how to script with BASH, Python, and other scripting languages to make these cluster nodes interoperate. Learn programming in Linux, manage resources. Understand how to create and manage your own cloud services.
A Raspberry Pi cluster also allows you to learn Docker, Kubernetes, Serverless. Or how to turn the resources of all cluster nodes into a supercomputer with the help of synchronous processing software like OpenMPI. Deploy Kubernetes and containers almost immediately to learn how to do the same when employed by big companies. A Raspberry Pi cluster will keep you learning for years, as Linux and cloud-native are vast and interesting ecosystems.
Everything I know about Kubernetes, I learned from a Raspberry Pi cluster
– Jeff Geerling
2. Create Your Own Home Lab
You can build a home lab with a Raspberry Pi cluster. If you are a software developer, you can use Docker or Kubernetes to deploy software versions, host your own private GitHub system, and quickly compile different versions of software using the resources of multiple cluster nodes. The more nodes in your Raspberry Pi cluster, the faster it performs in a shared resource environment.
Create a database and web server to properly test your website development results before publishing them to clients. For example, you can deploy several hosting environments with different configurations to see if your web project can handle older MySQL versions. Or implement a software testing version in your company and see how they perform. Simulate multiple users with various use cases and monitor errors and traffic to ensure the final product is stable and bulletproof.
3. Self-Host a Private Cloud
If you want your own internal private cloud, a Raspberry Pi cluster is your choice. Suppose you work for a company with hundreds or thousands of employees, and you want to implement a cloud solution for these employees to use for backups, CRM hosting, document storage, file sharing, or pushing new versions of modified files where collaboration is crucial. You need access to older versions of those files without worrying about privacy issues. You don’t need to run a “no-metal” beast the size of a refrigerator to achieve this. A Raspberry Pi cluster is cheaper and fits nicely in the corner of your office. You can use it to host your private cloud, version control systems, backup systems, etc. — all in one.
The benefit of hosting your own private cloud is that you don’t have to rely on third parties to control costs and keep your private data secure. If needed, you can upgrade hardware within hours.
4. Host Your Own Web Server
If you plan to provide web pages to the population in your geographic area, it makes sense to use servers hosted in that area. If you plan to cut costs, it makes even more sense to host your own web server. A Raspberry Pi cluster can easily become a web server. Connect the required size of external storage and install the LAMP stack. The security of the cluster is at your fingertips. You can use Graphana for visual monitoring, install CPanel for your clients, and modulate bandwidth and user accounts using QoS to grant resources as needed. The best part is that you can offer shared and dedicated hosting options with the same cluster. If you need more resources due to an expanded customer base, you can always install new nodes on your Raspberry Pi cluster without downtime. That said, even the Raspberry Pi Foundation hosted their Raspberry Pi 4 launch website on a Raspberry Pi cluster to serve a large amount of traffic.
5. NAS and File Sharing at Home or in the Company
There are several ways to use a Raspberry Pi cluster for sharing with your colleagues or employees. Samba is a great tool that connects your LAN PCs regardless of the operating system they use. You can also host NAS on a Raspberry Pi cluster to store large files like demo videos, software suites, accounting PDFs, or backups. Everyone in the company or home can have their own space on the cluster, and you can allocate different shared sizes for users. The cluster will also allow your PCs to communicate internally. Bandwidth usage can be set and monitored to avoid clogging data transfers from other users. This means hundreds of people can use the same Raspberry Pi cluster simultaneously; storing and sharing files from the office or at home with the help of a VPN.
6. Handle Heavy Loads
Some work environments require powerful computing resources to operate. If you are a programmer, you know that the larger your project, the more time it takes to compile. You can create your own compilation farm and allocate all Raspberry Pi cluster nodes to handle the same task simultaneously. Alternatively, you can give three nodes one task and the other four nodes a different task. Handle resources as you see fit. Raspberry Pi clusters can handle heavy loads. It is well known that ARM CPUs perform well in such tasks, and the more nodes you add to your Raspberry Pi cluster, the more multicore resources you have. Since Raspberry Pi modules are cheap and compact, you can add as many as you want. You can use Docker or Kubernetes to handle specific tasks, or use parallel processing software to do the same. Why clog your laptop CPU for hours when you can accomplish the same in a short time using a Raspberry Pi cluster?
7. Fast Multimedia Conversion Station
Most photographers, video editors, and 3D artists spend thousands of dollars on PCs that support multimedia. The reason is that you can do work and rendering on the same device. But by working with an ordinary laptop and processing with a Raspberry Pi cluster, you can start at a much cheaper price. Transfer your massive raw image files to the cluster and let it batch convert them, resize them, apply filters, and (typically) finish the work for you. The speed of converting large video files is the same, much faster than expensive PCs. Render 3D files using multiple CPUs and RAM modules at once. Or do all three while watching a TV show on an old laptop. After the task is complete, you can be notified via email or sound or light, and transfer the output back to your laptop. The more cluster nodes you use, the more resources you have at your disposal, and the faster the process ends.
8. Build Your Own Supercomputer
Accessing parallel computing resources can be costly. If you often do research and use statistics, you must know that R is not only open-source but can also be highly customized with plugins. Unlike Strata or SPSS, R performs statistical calculations faster on larger databases for free. But R, like any other statistical software, is often resource-intensive. The more entries in the database, the longer it takes for the statistical software to output results. This is why it is recommended to perform such tasks using clusters — it allows you to access multiple CPUs and gigabytes of RAM to get the job done faster. The problem is that accessing supercomputers is difficult; they charge by the hour for the resources you need, and sometimes you have to wait in line. With a Raspberry Pi cluster, you can spend that money hosting your own supercomputer. Cheap, scalable, low power, and noise. You can run R calculations locally for free, and you don’t have to wait in line.
9. Minecraft and Other Game Servers
If you are a gamer and have already spent a good amount of cash on a decent gaming PC, you probably can’t afford online servers to host your own private world. With a Raspberry Pi cluster, you don’t need to spend a lot; you can host all game servers on it. Give your friends a world in Minecraft. Battle monsters in Bloodlines, or chase each other in Rust. If the game has a server component, a Raspberry Pi cluster can run it smoothly.
10. CI/CD Pipelines
If you often use Ansible and need a version control system to debug code, you can easily set up such an environment using a Raspberry Pi cluster. It can handle push and pull requests for companies with hundreds of users, allowing you to keep code in a closed environment instead of online where it can escape into the wild. If you need to access the server from an IP not on the whitelist, you can use the company’s VPN to access that code from your home computer. Install GitLab and grant access to developers. It doesn’t matter whether you are developing with Ansible or PHP, or just editing a lot of documents that need a version control system; a Raspberry Pi cluster can handle all of these simultaneously.
11. Home Automation with Raspberry Pi Clusters
In recent years, as microcontrollers and automation hardware have become cheaper, more homes are becoming automated. Automating your entire home can take hundreds of dollars. From lights to self-moving blinds to WiFi plugs. Your garage door can open and close automatically, your doorbell has a video feed, and your baby monitor can play soothing music if your child’s screams reach a certain decibel level. All of this can be handled by a Raspberry Pi cluster. All these electronic devices and doors need a central brain to observe and process them. A Raspberry Pi cluster can become a universal automation hub. It can send WiFi commands to your wall plug to activate your coffee machine, then shut it off three minutes later when the coffee downstairs is done brewing and poured into your cup. After that, it can send you an email, or listen to your favorite radio station. Turn on the TV to the local news channel, turn on the oven, open the blinds as the stair sensor “senses” you walking toward the bathroom. It can adjust lights, water temperature, shower pressure, and play music all at once. A cluster can open your entrance door, unlock your car, reheat your driver’s seat, and even read the news out loud for you. Logs, reports, device statistics — it can generate all logs, reports, device statistics, and notify you regularly.
12. All of the Above
Because yes — a Raspberry Pi cluster can host and perform all of the above on the same machine. Convert your movies while hosting game servers and cloud. Learn Linux on the same cluster that saves NAS without affecting other operations of the Raspberry Pi cluster. Experiment on the same multi-node machine that saves backups without worrying about losing them while doing so. Work faster and store data securely.
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