Install rancher on Raspberry Pi

[markdav-is]

Is it even possible? https://rancher.com/quick-start/

[colindavey]

According to the above link, Rancher calls for a 64-bit Linux. The Raspberry Pi has 64-bit hardware, but the 64-bit version of the Raspberry Pi OS is still in development, and not stable yet. (https://raspberrytips.com/raspberry-pi-os-64-bits-vs-32-bits/)

Here (https://rancher.com/docs/os/v1.x/en/installation/server/raspberry-pi/) it says there is a Raspberry Pi image of Rancher, but only Raspberry Pi 3 is tested and known to work. The one I have is RP 4.

However, this seems promising: https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi.

[colindavey]

OK, got the right versions of Ubuntu and Docker installed (long story, I'll document it some time) and then went to the "second easy step" To install and run Rancher, execute the following Docker command on your host:..., and got

WARNING: The requested image's platform (linux/amd64) does not match the detected host platform 
(linux/arm64/v8) and no specific platform was requested

I couldn't find a way to request a specific platform, and there's also this:

Important:
Running on an ARM64 platform is currently an experimental feature and is not yet officially supported in 
Rancher. 
Therefore, we do not recommend using ARM64 based nodes in a production environment.

https://rancher.com/docs/rancher/v2.x/en/installation/resources/advanced/arm64-platform/

Also, I didn't understand this:

To access the Rancher server UI, open a browser and go to the hostname or address where the container 
was installed. You will be guided through setting up your first cluster.

(https://rancher.com/quick-start)
In other words, I'm not sure what url to try. I tried http://localhost:443 and http://localhost:80.

Probably no urls would work at this point, given the warning about the wrong platform, but it's not clear which one to try.

[colindavey]

I thought it would be useful to Zoom from the RP, and share screens while trying things. However, Zoom doesn't seem to support the ARM platform.
https://devforum.zoom.us/t/have-you-considered-building-zoom-for-the-raspberry-pi-4-linux-system/14257/13

[markdav-is]

I picked up an R-Pi from my place in Eugene today. It might not have enough RAM, But I have an 8GB one coming. We really don't need Rancher, but it would be cool to try. We can get away with just Oqtane on the R-Pi but then we have Blazor lock-in.

[markdav-is]

This is a good topic to bring up in the MVP Studio Slack channel. When I use Rancher at MVP, it's at port 8443. example: https://100.64.0.1:8443/g/clusters

[markdav-is]

If you would prefer an R-Pi3 I can send you one of those as well. I have a 3 and can try that image you found.

[colindavey]

If Rancher doesn't work, we can still do some form of k8s, no doubt.

https://www.hanselman.com/blog/how-to-build-a-kubernetes-cluster-with-arm-raspberry-pi-then-run-net-core-on-openfaas
https://alexellisuk.medium.com/five-years-of-raspberry-pi-clusters-77e56e547875

These guys (including our old friend Hanselman) seem to be about clustering several RPs together.

I bet the MVP folks could provide helpful hints about many aspects of the project.

[colindavey]

Docker works, btw. The install went smoothly, and I ran the Docker Hello World program.