Homelab Kubernetes Platform (RKE2 + Rancher)

A 4-node Proxmox cluster running RKE2 Kubernetes with full GitOps (Argo CD), three-layer backup system (Proxmox + Velero + etcd), Grafana 12 observability, encrypted secrets (SOPS/age), MCP server integration for AI-assisted ops, and SSH-hardened infrastructure — operated as a production-grade learning environment.

Proxmox VELinuxKubernetes (RKE2)RancherArgo CDGrafana 12VeleroPi-holeSOPS/ageMCP ServersAnsible

Overview

I run a production-style homelab Kubernetes platform on Proxmox using RKE2, with Rancher as the primary operator interface. Internal services are exposed via ingress-nginx and resolved through Pi-hole (*.homelab) so apps have stable hostnames instead of NodePorts.

Workloads and infrastructure are managed as code with Kustomize, and I’ve introduced Argo CD to move toward a true GitOps workflow: desired state lives in Git, changes are reviewed and reproducible, and cluster drift becomes visible and correctable.

Stateful services use PVC-backed persistence, with storage constraints (node-local affinity under local-path) explicitly documented. I validate platform patterns with small, real deployments (including a Train → Store → Serve “MLOps lab” workload) and capture runbooks and troubleshooting notes in an internal wiki.

What this demonstrates

Practical Kubernetes operations: deployments, services, ingress, PVCs, probes, rollouts
DNS + ingress as the stable interface for internal services
Storage topology awareness: designing around node-local persistence (local-path, WaitForFirstConsumer)
GitOps foundations: Kustomize structure + Argo CD reconciliation, diffs, and controlled sync
Three-layer backup strategy (Proxmox + Velero + etcd)
Encrypted secrets management with SOPS/age
SSH-hardened infrastructure with scoped access controls
Grafana 12 observability with Prometheus metrics
MCP server integration for AI-assisted cluster operations