Case study / 04
Pi
Cluster
A compact, always-on environment for self-hosted services, network experiments and personal infrastructure.
Overview
This three-node Raspberry Pi cluster is a practical sandbox for self-hosting, automation and network infrastructure - designed to be useful every day, not just interesting on paper.
The system began as a Docker Swarm experiment and evolved into a leaner setup tailored around lightweight services. Each Raspberry Pi 4 is housed in a modular, 3D-printed enclosure, with a custom network-switch mount designed to make the whole installation cleaner and easier to maintain.
The nodes run Raspberry Pi OS Lite and connect over Ethernet to a local mesh Wi-Fi hub. That keeps the environment responsive enough to act as a durable platform for both learning and daily tools.
Services currently include:
- Pi-hole for local DNS-based ad and tracker blocking
- Cloudflare Tunnel for securely exposing selected self-hosted services
- Personal NAS storage using external drives and Samba/NFS
- Self-hosted websites and a flexible environment for testing new ideas
