> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://diogo-home-lab.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Setup Raspberry Pis

> Get every Pi ready to be used

## 1. Intro

Before starting, I would like to give a special thanks to NetworkChuck for the excellent [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9fSMGkjtug\&list=LL\&index=42\&t=0s) on how to set up a Raspberry Pi cluster.

This documentation page closely follows that video's instructions, with some changes to reflect some of the updates that have been made to the [Raspberry Pi Imager](https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/).

**Make sure to follow the steps in this guide for all your Raspberry Pis.**

## 2. Pre-requisites

There is a single prerequisite for this guide:

* Download and install [Raspberry Pi Imager](https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/)

<Note>This guide shows how to setup a **Raspberry Pi 5** using Raspeberry Pi imager **v1.8.5**</Note>

## 3. Install OS

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose Device">
    First, select your device. In this case, we are using a Raspberry Pi 5.

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-select-device.gif?s=f449e6b2e6b7120cf7a034f8c33e1cb5" alt="rpi-select-device" width="800" height="576" data-path="images/rpi-select-device.gif" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose OS">
    Select **Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit** as your headless OS.

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-select-os.gif?s=cf4913b8a18f15f0c0670761dacedebf" alt="rpi-select-os" width="800" height="576" data-path="images/rpi-select-os.gif" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose your storage">
    Select the storage device where you want to install the operating system.

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-select-storage.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ&q=85&s=ca3733fcbdeee28c67411a9333f822b8" alt="rpi-select-os" width="1722" height="1318" data-path="images/rpi-select-storage.png" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Hostname, Username and Password">
    Under the **General** tab, set your hostname, username and password.
    The password you set here will be used when connecting to your node via SSH.
    <Tip> **Tip:** Use the same name for Username and Hostname for consistency.</Tip>

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-set-hostname.gif?s=0490b44faebc9e737dfe9e6c6580834b" alt="rpi-set-hostname" width="800" height="761" data-path="images/rpi-set-hostname.gif" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable SSH">
    Enable SSH under the **Services** tab.

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-enable-ssh.gif?s=bdff5df8fa23069a145eda58930913f3" alt="rpi-enable-ssh" width="800" height="763" data-path="images/rpi-enable-ssh.gif" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Save the changes, and let the Imager set everything up.

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-save-os.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ&q=85&s=64336219442d37e32f50b75cea9b18c6" alt="rpi-save-os" width="1722" height="1318" data-path="images/rpi-save-os.png" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Boot up your Pi">
    Take the storage with the OS installed on it and connect to the Pi, power it up and allow it approximately 5 minutes to complete the boot process.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 3. Enable Cgroups

As mentioned in the [K3s docs](https://docs.k3s.io/installation/requirements?_highlight=cgroup_memory%3D1&_highlight=cgroup_enable%3Dmemory\&os=pi#cgroups), standard Raspberry Pi OS installations do not start with `cgroups` enabled. **K3S** requires `cgroups` to start the systemd service.

The following steps will guide you through enabling cgroups on your Pi.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Reconnect the OS storage device to your computer">
    After letting your Pi boot for the first time, turn it off and reconnect the OS storage to your computer.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open cmdline.txt">
    Open your OS storage device, navigate to and open the file named `cmdline.txt`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable cgroups">
    Add the following code to the end of the file:

    ```
    cgroup_memory=1 cgroup_enable=memory
    ```

    You should end up with something like this:

    <img className="block" src="https://mintcdn.com/diogo-home-lab/UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ/images/rpi-edit-cmdlinetxt.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UBi13GDIfTZHjRHJ&q=85&s=0f023ae01a38577e9163b795edd2680b" alt="rpi-edit-dmlinetxt" width="791" height="563" data-path="images/rpi-edit-cmdlinetxt.png" />

    After that do not forget to save.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Boot up your pi (again)">
    After editing `cmdline.txt`, remove the storage device, connect it to the Pi, and power it up to reboot.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 4. Setting a static IP

Now all that is left is to set a static IP to whatever we would like to have.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect to your Pi via SSH">
    Open the terminal and connect to your Pi using:

    ```bash theme={null}
    ssh <username>@<hostname>
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the IP">
    To set a static IP, we define:

    * `ipv4.addresses` – The IP of this machine.
    * `ipv4.gateway` – The router or default gateway.
    * `ipv4.dns` – The DNS server to use (probably same as router).
    * `ipv4.dns` – Leave it manual.

    Define these values and use them for the following command:

    ```bash theme={null}
    nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" \
    ipv4.addresses <your_desired_ip>/24 \
    ipv4.gateway <ip_of_router> \
    ipv4.dns <ip_of_router> \ 
    ipv4.method manual
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reboot Pi">
    For these changes to take effect we need to reboot our Pi.

    ```bash theme={null}
    reboot
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Check>**You are done setting up your Raspberry Pis!**</Check>