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Create a local EdgeFarm cluster for testing

Before you decide wether EdgeFarm is the right solution for you, you might want to try it out. This guide will help you to set up a EdgeFarm cluster for testing that runs on your local machine. In the end you will have a EdgeFarm cluster running in a dockerized environment. You can then follow the Getting Started guide to deploy your first application.

Not for production

This is not a production-ready setup. It is meant for you trying out EdgeFarm.

Prerequisites

How to install Docker on Linux

Choose the right version of kubectl for your architecture:

kubectl v1.22.17 - click to download

kubectl v1.22.17 - click to download

How to install Docker on macOS

Choose the right version of kubectl for your architecture:

kubectl v1.22.17 - click to download

kubectl v1.22.17 - click to download

How to install Docker in Windows and WSL2 backend

kubectl v1.22.17 - click to download

Create a local cluster

Download the local-up tool from the EdgeFarm releases page or run this command:

curl -sfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/edgefarm/edgefarm/main/install.sh | sh -s -- -b ~/bin && chmod +x ~/bin/local-up

Once you've got everything set up, go ahead and run the local-up tool. This could take a while, so grab a coffee while you wait. 

local-up cluster create

Using cluster config file

You can use a custom cluster configuration file by providing the --config flag and change the default values. Create a config file by running local-up cluster create --generate-config --type local and adjust the values to your needs. You need to pass the config file to the local-up command with the --config flag.

kubeconfig path notes

The default location for the kubeconfig file is ~/.edgefarm-local-up/kubeconfig. This is by intention not to interfer with any existing clusters you might have. This means, you have to set the KUBECONFIG environment variable to use the local cluster with kubectl:

export KUBECONFIG=~/.edgefarm-local-up/kubeconfig

or use the --kubeconfig flag with kubectl:

kubectl --kubeconfig ~/.edgefarm-local-up/kubeconfig get nodes

or the even better choice: use a tool to manage multiple kube contexts for you, e.g. kubecm or kubie

Deploy EdgeFarm components

Now you can deploy the EdgeFarm components to the local cluster. 

$ local-up deploy

This will deploy the EdgeFarm components and its dependencies to the local cluster. This might take a few minutes.

If everything went well, you should see something like this:

The EdgeFarm cluster is ready to use! Have fun exploring EdgeFarm.
To access the cluster use 'kubectl', e.g.
 $ kubectl get nodes

deploy notes

See deploy options using the --help flag to skip certain components or to deploy a specific component only.

If everything went well, you should see something like this:

The local EdgeFarm cluster is ready to use! Have fun exploring EdgeFarm.
To access the cluster use 'kubectl', e.g.
  $ kubectl get nodes

Enable VPN

If you want to join physical edge nodes to the cluster, you need to setup a free account at netbird.io and create a personal access token first. Follow the netbird docs. If you don't want to join physical edge nodes, you can skip this step.

If you have a personal access token, you can enable the VPN with the following command:

local-up vpn enable --netbird-token <your-access-token>

Delete the local cluster

If you want to delete the local cluster, you can run the following command:

local-up cluster delete

This will delete the local cluster and all its components.

Considerations

Costs

Running a local cluster on your machine is totaly free. However, if you want to join physical edge nodes to the cluster, you need to setup a free account at netbird.io.