Edge Requirements
Overview
Edge computers can be physical machines near assets, virtual machines on local or cloud servers, or cloud-based PaaS instances. You can read more about possible setup architectures here.
Choosing the right edge setup depends on various factors such as IIoT compliance, serial communication needs, internet policy, connectivity reliability, and asset mobility.
Infrastructure
Kelvin Platform is built on Kubernetes, providing a secure and scalable infrastructure. It supports various Kubernetes flavors like:
- Kubernetes
- K3s
- etc.
And cloud PaaS Kubernetes services include:
- AKS – Azure Kubernetes Service
- EKS – Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
- GKE – Google Kubernetes Engine
Requirements
The requirements in this section apply only to users deploying on physical hardware or virtual machines.
If you are using a managed cloud PaaS solution like EKS, AKS, or GKE, these infrastructure-level requirements are handled transparently by the cloud provider.
Before running the Kelvin provision script, ensure the following are met:
Communications
At a minimum you will need to ensure these ports are open in your firewall.
Warning
In your firewall, make sure you place these allow rules before any general "deny" rules.
Note
If you communicate via Ethernet to your Assets, such as using Modbus TCP or OPC-UA, then you will need to refer to their documentation to ensure the required ports are also opened.
| Description | Port Type | Port No. | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server / Main Node | TCP | 443, 5000, 6443 | Ensure your firewall is stateful (so return packets are automatically permitted) —or, if stateless, add an inbound rule permitting ESTABLISHED/RELATED TCP traffic back to ports 443 and 5000. |
| Worker Nodes | TCP | 443, 5000 | Not required if using only Docker single node solution |
| UDP | 8472 | Not required if using only Docker single node solution | |
| Kelvin SmartApp™ Services | TCP/UDP | 30000 - 32767 | Open service ports only if local services are deployed from Kelvin SmartApps™ and require local access. |
| Asset Related Communications | TCP/UDP | Vendor Specific | Read your Asset's manual on the ports used. |
Networking
If you plan to use a Kubernetes or K3S solution and will setup the cluster with multiple nodes, then Main Node must have a Static IP.
Info
Even if you only start with one node but need future scaling options, ensure the Main Node has a static IP address.
Hardware (All Types)
Actual CPUs and RAM requirements will depend heavily on the requirements and quantity of Kelvin SmartApps™ that you want to deploy.
Resource hungry apps or deploying tens or hundreds of Kelvin SmartApp™ will require more resources.
In general we give you here the minimum requirements to get started.
Info
In all cases SSD disks are strongly recommended.
Kubernetes Physical Nodes
Warning
If you plan to buy hardware with arm64 processors, check first with Kelvin to ensure the Connection you want to use to collect data from your Assets is compiled for the arm64 processor.
All Connections are compatible with x86_64 processors.
| Processor | Min CPU Cores | Min RAM | Min HDD |
|---|---|---|---|
| x86_64 | 2 | 4 GB | 25 GB |
| arm64 | 2 | 2 GB | 25 GB |
Kubernetes Virtual Machines
| Deployment Size | No of Nodes | Min VCPUs | Min RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 1 - 10 | 2 | 4 GB |
| Medium | 10 - 100 | 4 | 8 GB |
| Large | 100 - 250 | 8 | 16 GB |
Docker Physical Nodes
Warning
If you plan to buy hardware with arm64 processors, check first with Kelvin to ensure the Connection you want to use to collect data from your Assets is compiled for the arm64 processor.
All Connections are compatible with x86_64 processors.
| Processor | Min CPU Cores | Min RAM | Min HDD |
|---|---|---|---|
| x86_64 | 2 | 2 GB | 20 GB |
| arm64 | 2 | 1 GB | 16 GB |
You can see the supported platforms and limitations at the Docker website here.
Operating System (All Types)
If you are installing the Kelvin Edge onto physical hardware or a virtual machine, we recommend that you use Ubuntu Server as your operating system.
All our software is tested on the LTS releases of Ubuntu Server.
Technically you can install on any operating system that fully support Kubernetes or Docker, but in some cases you may find your Kelvin SmartApps™ may not fully run as expected, especially if you are in privileged mode or utilize additional hardware resources such as a GPU.
Edge Setup Options
Kelvin Managed (K3s & Docker)
If you do not have any Kubernetes experience or do not want to spend effort on managing your own Kubernetes Clusters, Kelvin can fully manage your cluster for you.
This means Kelvin will handle everything automatically from installation and setup to maintenance and upgrades.
Kelvin has two fully managed solutions;
| Option | Advantages |
|---|---|
| K3s | Full Kubernetes solution, scalable and automated |
| Docker | Lightweight, single-node install for low-end devices |
K3S
Select K3s from the Kelvin UI:
Success
No Kubernetes knowledge needed. Just provide a Linux system (Minimum Ubuntu 22.04).
Refer to Provision a K3S for step-by-step setup.
Figure: Creating a new K3s in the Kelvin UI
Technically these are the limitations when you choose Kelvin's K3S solution.
- Max 110 pods per node
- 16 pods reserved per cluster for core system Kelvin SmartApps™
- Core services consume 2 GB space
- Pod CIDR:
10.42.0.0/16 - Service CIDR:
10.43.0.0/24
Docker
Select Docker from the Kelvin UI:
Success
No Docker knowledge needed. Just provide a Linux system (Minimum Ubuntu 22.04).
Refer to Provision Docker Cluster for step-by-step setup.
Self Managed
If you already run your own Kubernetes infrastructure, you can choose the Kubernetes option when creating the cluster.
Only select K3s if Kelvin is managing the cluster. Use Kubernetes for self-managed K3s.
Kubernetes (Physical/VM)
These are generic open-source Kubernetes deployments either on bare metal or on VMs in local/cloud setups.
K3s (Physical/VM)
For users managing their own K3s setup on low-resource devices or VMs.
Amazon EKS (Cloud)
Use this if you want to run your Kubernetes cluster in AWS using Amazon EKS. Kelvin will deploy core services into your managed EKS cluster. You will be responsible for EKS setup, resource sizing, and operational costs.
- Choosing an AWS container service
- Getting started with AWS Batch on Amazon EKS
- Amazon EKS service quotas
- Choosing an Amazon EC2 instance type
- Amazon EKS pricing
Microsoft AKS (Cloud)
Use this if you want to run your Kubernetes cluster in Azure using Microsoft AKS. Kelvin will deploy core services into your managed AKS cluster. You will be responsible for AKS setup, service quotas, regional availability, and billing optimization.