Kubernetes on Raspberry Pi 5 — Part 5 Install network load balancer (MetalLB)

I have been using a Raspberry Pi 4 as a host for a Kubernetes for about two years. Recently I purchased the new Raspberry Pi 5. I plan to also setup Kubernetes on it so I can have a cluster with two nodes.

K3s on Raspberry Pi 5

Part 1 Install Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit

Part 2 Mount external storage

Part 3 Install K3S on master node

Part 4 Install K3S on agent nodes

Part 5 Install network load balancer (MetalLB)

If you followed my Kubernetes on Raspberry Pi 5 series you know that I am hosting a K3s cluster on two Raspberry Pi boards. Next I will install MetalLB, an implementation of network load balancer (Services of type LoadBalancer) for bare-metal clusters.

While not a direct “load balancer” solution, MetalLB provides load balancer functionality for bare metal clusters.

Simplified External Access

Load balancers provide a single entry point for external clients to access services running in the cluster. This simplifies network configuration and makes it easier to expose applications to the outside world without manually managing individual node IP…