MiniRack 002.5 - K3s Homelab

### 🏠 Homelab Pi‑Cluster Showcase

#### Motivation
I wanted to get sarted with homelabing and Project MiniRack conviced me to do it!

I wanted a **portable, good‑looking mini‑rack** where I can tinker with Kubernetes, Argo CD, local DNS, self‑hosted apps, and MLOps—without falling into analysis‑paralysis.

Three (or more) Pis, real network gear, and a gentle learning curve even if that meant abdicating of some computing power for the same price.

#### Hardware

| Piece | What it is |
|-------|------------|
| **Mini‑rack** | DeskPi RackMate T0 (10″ 4U) |
| **Router** | GL.iNet **Opal** — OpenWRT, dual LAN + WAN |
| **Switch** | MikroTik CSS610‑8G‑2S+ — fanless L2+, 8×1 GbE, 2×10 Gb SFP+ |
| **Rack kit** | MikroTik RMK‑2/10 — mounts the switch in the 10″ rack |
| **Compute** | 3 × Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB) |
| **Pi tray** | DeskPi 2U PCIe NVMe mount — adds M.2 storage & looks slick |
| **Power** | 300 W USB‑C charging station |
| **PDU** | 1 U 10″ mini‑rack power strip |

*Pretty much the same as Jeff’s [Mini Rack 002](https://github.com/geerlingguy/mini-rack/issues/4).*

I haven't yet connected the fourth Pi since I am still messing with it. I added a router on top to experiment with DNS and VPN configurations, and to maintain a consistent network setup between home and work (preventing my Pis from getting different IP addresses on different networks).

Looking back, I have two minor regrets:
- This switch is probably overkill for my current needs 😅...
- Not purchasing patch cables... The ones i got right now are a bit two big and make the build look a bit less cool.

#### Special Thanks 🙌
- **Jeff Geerling** — “Project Mini Rack” for the hardware blueprint
- **NetworkChuck** — “Raspberry Pi Super Computer” for the K8s intro

This issue is a MiniRack homelab showcase rather than a requested code or documentation change. It names Raspberry Pi hardware, K3s, networking, and self-hosted applications, but no repository files, tests, or implementation entry points. There is no defined completion criterion beyond sharing the build.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.