Docker, Rancher, Kubernetes... Minecraft? (Rancher Setup and Install Tutorial)

** See documentation for latest command! **

If you want to set up Kubernetes at home using Rancher to run Docker containers, this is the guide for you. This is a step by step tutorial of how to install and configure Rancher, Docker, and Kubernetes for your homelab. In this video we set up and configure a Minecraft server in just a matter of minutes with some enterprise like features. You can use this same process to spin up other Docker containers at home on your server or desktop.

(Affiliate links may be included in this description. I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.)

00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Why
00:34 - What is Docker
01:36 - What is Kubernetes
02:06 - What is Rancher
02:27 - Prerequisites
03:07 - Install Docker
04:33 - Install Rancher
05:15 - Admin UI
05:52 - Dark Mode
06:03 - Create a Cluster
07:50 - Add a K8s Workload - Minecraft
10:36 - Spin Up Minecraft Server
11:15 - Connect with Minecraft Client
13:08 - Scaling Policy
14:01 - Dockerhub Images
14:11 - Conclusion

Install Docker

Install Rancher

Install Kubernetes
(see your Rancher UI for the install command)

Minecraft Docker Image on Docker Hub

(Affiliate links may be included in this description. I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.) Tim Kits:

⏯ Recommended Videos ⏯

#Kubernetes #Rancher #Docker #Proxmox #Minecraft #MinecraftServer #TechnoTim #Containerization #HomeLab #HomeServer

Thank you for watching!

[TechnoTim]

Are you running Docker at home?

Btw, if you're new here, welcome! Subscribe for more content like this coming soon!

[Lord_Chunk]

I've been digging through Rancher's documentation trying to figure out how to do a basic setup for some hours now. As it turns out, pages of documentation are nothing compared to a well thought through tutorial. Really impressed by the production quality and conciseness of your video. Keep up the good work :D

[RGCFlick]

Fantastic Video as always! For anyone who has trouble getting to the container via IP like I did due to the latest rancher update, the resolution for me was to use rancher/rancher:v2.4.9

[michaelpompey]

I love this video, thanks so much Tim. I ran into an issue where nginx-ingress-controller kept restarting, 100's of times during the day and I would loose webgui. The issue is rancher grabs 80 and 443 for itself, setting up a conflict with the nginx pod. I rebuilt using 8080:80 and 8443:443 in the rancher port mapping to free up those ports for nginx controller. There is a link on rancher site for running rancher on single node. If anybody runs into this issue that's where I found the solution to fix it for me.

[pachot]

Hi Techo Tim. I tried to folow this video, but rancher has a very new version and the pages from official site has significant changes. I got a point difficult to continue. Could you please update this video? Thanks for your effort and contribution. Learning a lot from your clear and well structured videos.

[stringsc]

By far the best Rancher video on YouTube, if you want to know the basics and how to get started with Kubernetes you can't missed this one. I am a DevOps Engineer and Ansible Developer and I can tell you getting into Kubernetes it is not an easy task so @technotim makes it possible with this great

[TungNanKwong]

For those that are having trouble with the latest version, here's the tag that works:
rancher/rancher:v2.4-head

[camscurrent]

Thanks for the instructions Tim! I initially tried setting up Ubuntu Server 20.04 on my “server” machine but ran into some errors. I went back to your proxmox video and followed the path through the Linux setup with Ubuntu Server 18 to now getting rancher setup. If anyone is experiencing daemon issues and you’re on version 20 I recommenced rolling back to 18 and trying again, it worked flawlessly.

[berndbrater]

Thank you for the explanation. Till yesterday, I had no clue about that stuff and for me, it was miles away. And now, I am testing and playing around with that easily. Subbed!

[skyreacher]

Thank you for this really nice and straight-forward tutorial (subbed)! Only problem I had when trying out the Minecraft server was that "Path on the Node" and "Mount Point" need to be interchanged (at 10:37 in the video). Otherwise persistence won't work and the container will create a new world every time it starts up.

[MrEric]

Update: This tutorial is still awesome, but I ran into an issue and wanted to share. Rancher has been updated and even on the Rancher site the command to deploy with persistent data is missing a key switch called --privileged. Without this switch in the command the rancher container will just restart and never startup. I hope that helps someone.

[armeljeubou]

Thank you Tim for this video, your calm to explain things, you helped me revise how to create a cluster and deploy workloads in a cluster. I liked the way you made it easier for us to understand

[itskagiso]

For anyone following this tutorial - the latest Rancher version is a mess, the kernal is completely broken resulting in a restart loop. TIP: Change the rancher install command - Do not use this "rancher/rancher:latest". Rather install an older version such as v.2.4.17

This is how I edited mine:
docker run -d --restart=unless-stopped \
-p 8080:80 -p 8443:443 \
-v /opt/rancher:/var/lib/rancher \
--privileged \
rancher/rancher:v2.4.17

[paulbalfour]

Thanks Tim, the calm way you explain things makes it all seem so easy. Not sure I would have attempted this without your help. Keep up the good work.

[hawkshadow]

for those having an etcd error with their cluster. click on it and watch the provisioning log, may take several minutes but the error will most likely clear itself (clarification this is for people trying to muddle through this guide on 2.5/2.6 working with the changes

[morohekim]

I've installed the Rancher and Kubernetes for the first time from your tutorial. . In a few min it was up and running. It was very helpful. Thank you

[moranshechter]

Hi Techno Tim - can you update the Tutorial - rancher is more different then what you using

[chrislim]

For those having issues with [etcd] Failed to bring up Etcd Plane: etcd cluster is unhealthy: hosts [IP] failed to report healthy. Check etcd container logs on each host for more information during cluster creation, redo with rancher/rancher:v2.4-head instead of rancher/rancher:latest. There must be some conflicting stuff happening in the new version that causes etcd to fail.

[Standbackforscience]

right now this is one of the best "real" tech channels on Youtube - shows us how to do real stuff of value in linux without burying us in a ton of padding or elitism (looking at you, Level1Tech). Subbed!

[jorgzimmermann]

love the pace and format - just detailed enough for a home nerd to get everything without having to watch 10h of footage! :)