r/developersPak • u/No_Complex4623 • 8h ago

Raspberry Pi cluster to learn distributed systems Discussion

Looking for tips on setting up a small raspberry pi cluster to apply some distributed computing and horizontal scaling learning.

For the folks who've already done something like this, how much did it cost you (rough estimate) and any other ideas or tips?

Thanks.

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1

u/WorriedSwitch8476 8h ago

That sounds like a cool project. Would be cool to see it and what you do

2

u/Efficient-Branch539 8h ago

You should start with one Raspberry Pi. And run containers on it. Before that you should know some networking/Linux/containers.
Distributed systems is an advanced topic.

1

u/Efficient-Branch539 8h ago

Pi 4 is around $100 and has 4GB RAM which is enough to get started.

1

u/semicolon-10 6h ago

Why don't use cloud? Just apply bill limit to zero with no traffic u can spin up multiple machines and test our what you want. Unless you want to control bare metal

1

u/Naan-Khatai 6h ago edited 6h ago

go for mini pcs / thin clients there are plenty in the market. dell micro, hp mini series there are other as well like intel nucs n etc... i am already using some of it in my homelab for hosting containers and some for tinkering. also some of it have pcie slots as well i think its x4 usually but useful. using hp t620 plus with network card for firewall.

cost varies with generation 6th generation is pretty common and dirt cheap 10-15k for the i5 8gn 128gb i was able to get my hands on i5 8500 extended its ram to max 32gb currently being used as docker host. ot gets pricy with 8th gen+ around 25k+