Building Your First Cloud-Native Kubernetes Cluster: A Beginner’s Journey with Talos Linux and Cilium

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Chiqo Rifky Saputra

Transform your single VPS into a production-ready Kubernetes powerhouse

🎯 Who This Guide Is For: This is a starter guide specifically designed for learners with one VPS or cloud server for educational purposes. If you have multiple physical machines in a homelab setup, you'll need different configurations and networking approaches.

🙏 Inspiration & Credits

Before we dive into this exciting journey, I want to give proper credit to Mischa van den Burg for his inspiring videos that motivated this comprehensive guide:

🎯 "The Kubernetes Homelab That Prints Job Offers - 2025" - His insights about how Kubernetes creates incredible learning opportunities and reignites passion for cloud-native computing.

🤔 "How To Learn Kubernetes in 2025" - Perfect for those still deciding whether it's worth learning Kubernetes despite its complexity. If you have the passion to learn cloud-native computing, this is a great starting point!

💡 Why This Matters: As Mischa demonstrates, building real-world Kubernetes projects isn't just about learning—it's about creating opportunities that can transform your career in DevOps and cloud engineering. Even with the complexity, the passion for cloud-native technology makes the journey worthwhile.

🌟 Introduction: Welcome to the Cloud-Native Revolution

Imagine you're building a smart city. Traditional infrastructure is like having individual houses scattered everywhere—each with its own utilities, security systems, and maintenance crews. Cloud-native architecture, powered by Kubernetes, is like creating a modern apartment complex where everything is centralized, automated, and efficiently managed.

Today, we're going to build your first Kubernetes cluster using two incredible technologies:

• Talos Linux: Think of it as the ultimate apartment building manager—secure, automated, and never sleeps
• Cilium: The smart networking system that connects everything with lightning speed

By the end of this guide, you'll have a production-ready Kubernetes cluster running on a single VPS that can scale and adapt to your needs.

🤔 Why Kubernetes? Understanding the "Why" Before the "How"

The Restaurant Analogy

Imagine you own a restaurant. In the old days (traditional deployment), you had:

• One chef doing everything
• If the chef gets sick, the restaurant closes
• During rush hour, customers wait forever
• Scaling means hiring more chefs and buying more kitchens

With Kubernetes, your restaurant becomes a smart food court:

• Multiple specialized stations (containers) handle different tasks
• Automatic scaling: More pizza stations appear during lunch rush
• Self-healing: If one station breaks, another takes over instantly
• Resource sharing: All stations share the same utilities efficiently

🎯 Kubernetes Benefits

Why Kubernetes is Essential for Modern Applications

1. Scalability: Your app can grow from 10 to 10,000 users seamlessly
2. Reliability: If something breaks, Kubernetes fixes it automatically
3. Efficiency: Maximum resource utilization means lower costs
4. Portability: Run anywhere—cloud, on-premises, or hybrid
5. Developer Productivity: Focus on code, not infrastructure

🛡️ Enter Talos Linux: The Security-First Operating System

The Fortress Analogy

Traditional Linux servers are like medieval castles with many doors, windows, and secret passages. Each entry point is a potential security risk. Talos Linux is like a modern bank vault:

• Single API entrance: Only one way in, heavily guarded
• No SSH backdoors: No secret passages for attackers
• Immutable: The vault structure can't be modified from inside
• Self-updating: Automatically upgrades its security systems

🥊 Traditional Linux vs Talos Linux

Talos Linux Advantages

✅ Zero Attack Surface: No shell, no SSH, no unnecessary services
✅ API-Driven: Everything managed through secure APIs
✅ Immutable: OS can't be tampered with at runtime
✅ Kubernetes-Native: Built specifically for container workloads
✅ Minimal Resources: Tiny footprint means more resources for your apps

🕸️ Cilium: The Neural Network of Your Cluster

The Smart City Traffic System Analogy

Traditional networking (kube-proxy) is like having traffic lights at every intersection—functional but slow. Cilium is like having an AI traffic management system:

• eBPF Technology: Like having sensors everywhere that make instant decisions
• No Bottlenecks: Traffic flows smoothly without stopping at every light
• Security Built-in: Automatically blocks suspicious vehicles
• Observability: Real-time monitoring of all traffic patterns

⚡ Cilium eBPF Superpowers

Why Cilium Over Traditional CNI

🚀 Performance: eBPF runs in kernel space—blazingly fast
🔒 Security: Network policies enforced at the kernel level
📊 Observability: Deep insights into network traffic
🔄 Load Balancing: Replaces kube-proxy with better performance

🏗️ Our Architecture: The Blueprint

We're building a single-node Kubernetes cluster that acts as both control plane and worker. Think of it as a studio apartment that's perfectly organized—compact but fully functional.

🏗️ Architecture Stack

🛠️ Prerequisites: What You'll Need

Before we start building, make sure you have:

📋 Checklist:

• ✅ A VPS (DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, etc.) with at least 2GB RAM (this is for starter, you can upgrade later)
• ✅ talosctl installed on your local machine
• ✅ kubectl for Kubernetes management
• ✅ helm for package management
• ✅ Basic terminal knowledge (don't worry, we'll guide you through everything!)

Installing Required Tools

# Install talosctl (macOS)
brew install siderolabs/tap/talosctl

# Install kubectl
brew install kubectl

# Install helm
brew install helm

🚀 Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Phase 0: Preparing Your Configuration

First, let's create our Talos configuration patch. This is like creating the blueprint for our smart building:

Create patch.yaml:

# Talos Linux Configuration Patch for Single Node VPS with Cilium CNI
# This patch configures Talos for a single-node setup with custom networking and storage

# Machine-specific configuration
machine:
  install:
    disk: /dev/vda # Primary disk for VPS installation
  network:
    interfaces:
      - interface: eth0 # Primary network interface on VPS

# Cluster configuration
cluster:
  # Allow workloads to be scheduled on control plane (single node setup)
  allowSchedulingOnControlPlanes: true # Required for single node - control plane acts as worker too

  network:
    cni:
      name: none # Disable default CNI - Cilium will provide networking
  proxy:
    disabled: true # Disable kube-proxy - Cilium will handle load balancing with eBPF

Phase 1: Talos Linux Installation

Step 0: Preparing Your VPS for Talos Installation

Before generating the configuration, you need to ensure your VPS can boot Talos Linux. You have several options:

🔧 Installation Methods:

Option 1: ISO Mounting (Most Common)

• Download the Talos Linux ISO from:
  • GitHub releases (official releases)
  • Talos Linux Factory (custom images for specific platforms)
• Mount it through your VPS provider's control panel
• Boot from the mounted ISO

Option 2: Netboot (Provider-Specific)

• Some providers like Onidel VPS offer netboot options
• Check your VPS control panel for "Custom OS" or "Netboot" features
• Configure it to boot Talos Linux directly from the network

Option 3: Siderolabs Booter (Advanced)

• Use the siderolabs/booter tool for PXE boot
• Perfect for automated deployments or multiple machines
• Requires network boot capability on your VPS

# Example: Using siderolabs booter (if your VPS supports PXE)
docker run --rm --network host \
  ghcr.io/siderolabs/booter:v0.1.0

⚠️ Important: Make sure your VPS successfully boots into the Talos Linux installation environment before proceeding to the next step. You should see the Talos maintenance mode interface.

Step 1: Generate Talos Configuration

# Replace YOUR_VPS_IP with your actual VPS IP address
talosctl gen config talos-cilium-single-node-cluster https://YOUR_VPS_IP:6443 \
  --config-patch @patch.yaml \
  --output-dir ./out

What's happening here?

• We're creating configuration files for our cluster
• The patch file customizes the setup for our single-node scenario
• All generated files go into the ./out directory

Step 2: Apply Configuration to Your VPS

# This installs Talos Linux on your VPS
talosctl apply -f ./out/controlplane.yaml -n YOUR_VPS_IP -i

⏰ Wait Time: Your VPS will reboot and install Talos Linux. This takes about 5-10 minutes. Grab a coffee! ☕

Step 3: Bootstrap the Kubernetes Cluster

# This starts the Kubernetes control plane
talosctl bootstrap -n YOUR_VPS_IP -e YOUR_VPS_IP --talosconfig ./out/talosconfig

What's bootstrapping?
Think of it as turning on the power in your smart building. All the systems come online and start talking to each other.

Step 4: Get Your Kubernetes Access Key

# This downloads the key to access your cluster
talosctl -n YOUR_VPS_IP -e YOUR_VPS_IP --talosconfig ./out/talosconfig kubeconfig ./out/kubeconfig

# Set up your local environment
export KUBECONFIG=./out/kubeconfig

Step 5: Verify Kubernetes is Running

kubectl get nodes

You should see something like:

NAME                STATUS     ROLES           AGE   VERSION
talos-xxx-xxx       NotReady   control-plane   1m    v1.28.x

Don't panic about "NotReady"! This is normal—we haven't installed networking yet.

Phase 2: Installing Cilium CNI

Now we're going to install the nervous system of our cluster—the networking layer.

Step 1: Add Cilium Repository

helm repo add cilium https://helm.cilium.io/
helm repo update

Step 2: Install Cilium with Optimized Settings

helm install cilium cilium/cilium \
    --version 1.18.1 \
    --namespace kube-system \
    --set ipam.mode=kubernetes \
    --set securityContext.capabilities.ciliumAgent="{CHOWN,KILL,NET_ADMIN,NET_RAW,IPC_LOCK,SYS_ADMIN,SYS_RESOURCE,DAC_OVERRIDE,FOWNER,SETGID,SETUID}" \
    --set securityContext.capabilities.cleanCiliumState="{NET_ADMIN,SYS_ADMIN,SYS_RESOURCE}" \
    --set cgroup.autoMount.enabled=false \
    --set cgroup.hostRoot=/sys/fs/cgroup \
    --set operator.replicas=1 \
    --set kubeProxyReplacement=true \
    --set hubble.relay.enabled=true \
    --set hubble.ui.enabled=true \
    --set k8sServiceHost=YOUR_VPS_IP \
    --set k8sServicePort=6443

🔧 Understanding the Cilium Configuration Parameters

Let me break down what each of these parameters does and why they're crucial for our Talos + Cilium setup:

📦 Basic Installation Settings

--version 1.18.1                    # Specific Cilium version for stability
--namespace kube-system              # Install in the system namespace

🧠 IP Address Management (IPAM)

--set ipam.mode=kubernetes           # Let Kubernetes handle IP allocation

Why this matters: Instead of Cilium managing IPs directly, we let Kubernetes do it. Think of it like letting the hotel concierge assign room numbers instead of guests picking their own!

🔐 Security Capabilities

--set securityContext.capabilities.ciliumAgent="{CHOWN,KILL,NET_ADMIN,NET_RAW,IPC_LOCK,SYS_ADMIN,SYS_RESOURCE,DAC_OVERRIDE,FOWNER,SETGID,SETUID}"
--set securityContext.capabilities.cleanCiliumState="{NET_ADMIN,SYS_ADMIN,SYS_RESOURCE}"

What these do:

• NET_ADMIN: Manage network interfaces and routing
• SYS_ADMIN: System administration tasks
• NET_RAW: Create raw sockets for network operations
• CHOWN/FOWNER: Change file ownership
• KILL: Terminate processes
• IPC_LOCK: Lock memory pages

Why so many permissions? Cilium needs deep system access to manage networking at the kernel level. It's like giving a master key to the building superintendent!

📁 Control Groups (cgroups) Configuration

--set cgroup.autoMount.enabled=false # Don't auto-mount cgroups
--set cgroup.hostRoot=/sys/fs/cgroup  # Use host's cgroup filesystem

Talos-specific: Since Talos manages the system differently than traditional Linux, we need to tell Cilium exactly where to find the cgroup filesystem.

⚖️ Single-Node Optimizations

--set operator.replicas=1            # Only one operator instance

Why only 1? In a multi-node cluster, you'd want multiple operators for high availability. But with just one node, multiple operators would just waste resources!

🔄 Kube-Proxy Replacement

--set kubeProxyReplacement=true      # Replace kube-proxy entirely

Game changer: This is where Cilium shines! Instead of using the traditional kube-proxy, Cilium handles all service load balancing with eBPF - much faster and more efficient!

👁️ Observability with Hubble

--set hubble.relay.enabled=true      # Enable Hubble relay
--set hubble.ui.enabled=true         # Enable Hubble web UI

What's Hubble? Think of it as a security camera system for your network traffic. You can see exactly what's talking to what, when, and why!

🌐 API Server Connection

--set k8sServiceHost=YOUR_VPS_IP     # Your VPS public IP
--set k8sServicePort=6443            # Kubernetes API port

Critical for single-node: Tells Cilium how to reach the Kubernetes API server from outside the cluster.

💡 Pro Tip: Parameter Customization

🎯 Key Parameters You Might Want to Adjust

Remember: Each parameter serves a specific purpose in making Cilium work seamlessly with Talos Linux. Don't randomly change them unless you understand the implications!

What do all these settings do?

• kubeProxyReplacement=true: Cilium replaces kube-proxy for better performance

• hubble.ui.enabled=true: Gives us a beautiful network monitoring dashboard

• operator.replicas=1: Optimized for single-node deployment

Step 3: Verify Everything is Working

# Check if Cilium pods are running
kubectl get pods -n kube-system -l k8s-app=cilium

# Check node status (should now be Ready!)
kubectl get nodes

# Check Cilium status
cilium status --wait

Success looks like:

NAME                STATUS   ROLES           AGE   VERSION
talos-xxx-xxx       Ready    control-plane   5m    v1.28.x

🎉 Congratulations! What You've Built

You've just created a production-ready Kubernetes cluster with:

🎯 Achievement Unlocked!

🔍 Understanding What You Built

The Magic Behind the Scenes

1. Talos Linux is running as your OS, managing everything through APIs
2. Kubernetes is orchestrating containers and managing resources
3. Cilium is handling all networking with eBPF superpowers
4. Your cluster can now run any containerized application

🛣️ Your Journey Ahead

💡 Wisdom Gained

🤝 Join the Community

You're now part of the cloud-native community! Here are some great resources:

🌍 Community Resources

💡 Final Thoughts

Building your first Kubernetes cluster is like learning to drive—it seems overwhelming at first, but once you understand the basics, a whole world of possibilities opens up. You've just built something that many enterprises pay thousands of dollars for, using open-source tools and a single VPS.

🌟 "The future of infrastructure is declarative, automated, and secure. You're now equipped with the knowledge to be part of that future."

Happy clustering! 🚀

Did this guide help you build your first Kubernetes cluster? Share your experience in the comments below, and don't forget to follow for more cloud-native tutorials!

Tags: #Kubernetes #TalosLinux #Cilium #CloudNative #DevOps #Containers #eBPF #Infrastructure #Tutorial #Beginner

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Chiqo Rifky Saputra

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Chiqo Rifky Saputra | Sciencx (2025-09-05T15:30:10+00:00) Building Your First Cloud-Native Kubernetes Cluster: A Beginner’s Journey with Talos Linux and Cilium. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/09/05/building-your-first-cloud-native-kubernetes-cluster-a-beginners-journey-with-talos-linux-and-cilium/

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" » Building Your First Cloud-Native Kubernetes Cluster: A Beginner’s Journey with Talos Linux and Cilium." Chiqo Rifky Saputra | Sciencx - Friday September 5, 2025, https://www.scien.cx/2025/09/05/building-your-first-cloud-native-kubernetes-cluster-a-beginners-journey-with-talos-linux-and-cilium/

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Chiqo Rifky Saputra | Sciencx Friday September 5, 2025 » Building Your First Cloud-Native Kubernetes Cluster: A Beginner’s Journey with Talos Linux and Cilium., viewed ,<https://www.scien.cx/2025/09/05/building-your-first-cloud-native-kubernetes-cluster-a-beginners-journey-with-talos-linux-and-cilium/>

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