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Kubernetes provides a framework to orchestrate multiple containers, verses working with one container at a time. To practice managing containers I opted to build a Kubernetes cluster on Raspberry Pis using Rancher. Rancher came about soon after Docker introduced containers to the market, and provides an open-source platform for enterprises to easily use Kubernetes in their environment. K3S is a Rancher product that allows you to deploy a Kubernetes cluster using a single binary file thats less than 40MB. K3S is ideal for Raspberry Pis, since traditionally building a Kubernetes cluster on Pis could be too much for them to handle. In addition to K3S this is what I used to build a simple Kubernetes cluster in my home lab: ...

Introduction to Terraform Terraform by Hashicorp is a “tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently”. Terraform works using infrastructure as code, meaning that build a blueprint of the resources you need in a configuration file (with the .tf extension) and Terraform builds that infrastructure for you. The Terraform package itself is a single binary file, easily downloaded, and is used to build/edit/destroy your resources. In contrast to older versions of infrastructure build tools like Packer, Terraform allows you to create infrastructure across multiple cloud providers and is “smart” enough to know how many more machines to create in context of what you already have. For example, if you have 5 servers on Azure, but you want 10, Terraform will build 5 more for you to bring you to a total of 10 versus building 10 more servers and leaving you with 15. ...

Practicing installing/updating/building machines is much more fun when you aren’t running the risk of ruining an entire computer. To give myself a safe environment to work in, I have been using VMware’s vSphere in our home lab for many of my computer projects. vSphere is a suite of virtualization products that allow you to create and manage VMs. This allows me to work on VMs that can run any OS I like, and if I something goes wrong I can just delete the VM and begin again. ...

In addition to text analysis Microsoft’s cognitive services allow you to convert speech to text, text to speech, and even translate between spoken languages. This powerful AI service is surprisingly easy to use. I was able to speak into my computers microphone and receive a text translation in one language or a spoken translation in multiple languages –all with the code provided on Microsoft Learn. You have the option to work with the speech SDK (software development kit) in C# or python, I choose python. ...

As I continue to study artificial intelligence I’ve been able to practice using Microsoft’s cognitive services. I was first introduced to cognitive services during the virtual Microsoft Build 2020 conference, and I’ve enjoyed getting to use them for myself. Since creating and training your own artificial intelligence/machine learning software is all kinds of complicated, cognitive services allow anyone to use AI in their projects without having to write much code. All you have to do is call the service that you want, and it will do the hard work for you. ...

Arch Linux’s official website describes Arch as a distribution that “tries to Keep It Simple”. It also states that Arch is not for those without the ability or time for a “do-it-yourself” system–which is true. I recently built a machine that needed a lightweight OS, so Arch Linux was a good choice. Installing Arch Linux can seem complicated, but understanding what needs to happen in each step of the install makes it feel fun and easy. Here’s what I did: ...