OCI Homelab (Infrastructure as Code)
Terraform-managed multi-node k3s cluster on Oracle Cloud's always-free tier — VCN, hardened compute, WireGuard bastion, and remote state. Reproducible from zero.
The problem. I wanted somewhere to run side projects and learn Kubernetes for real, without a cloud bill — so the whole thing had to fit inside Oracle Cloud’s always-free tier and stand back up from code if it burned down.
What I built. Four instances using 100% of the free compute quota: a k3s control plane and worker (2 OCPU / 12 GB ARM each) running Traefik, cert-manager, and monitoring; plus two AMD micros for a WireGuard/SSH bastion and external uptime monitoring. Networking is a 10.0.0.0/16 VCN with an internet gateway and network security groups scoped per service.
Security by default. Cloud-init hardens every instance on first boot — password and root SSH disabled, fail2ban and a UFW firewall enabled. k3s nodes are reached through a WireGuard VPN bastion rather than exposed directly.
How it’s structured. I split it into network, security, and compute modules with remote state in OCI Object Storage — reproducible, versioned, and reviewable rather than click-ops.