[Discuss] Raspberry PI[4,5] as infrastructure?

[markw at mohawksoft.com]

It doesn't take much knowledge of history to see that a Raspberry PI5 with
a ton of new features is a computer that rivals infrastructure computers
that are probably still in service. Hell, even a RPI4 may even fit that
description.

I've been using RPIs for about 10 years and they've grown from a neat
little embedded linux platform to a full blown computer that is perfectly
usable as a general purpose platform. I have a anti-static bag filled with
just about every PI board from the beginning. (Which kind of troubles me
about "disposibility" of tech, they "work" but have no tangible value.)


I have a RPI5 running ZFS, PostgreSQL, a DLNA server, and a full
development stack that compiles just about any code I have laying around.

These things chave 8 gigs of RAM, 4 CPUs, use 15 watts of power, and cost
less than a video card. My desktop is considerably bigger, but the core
speed is only 2 or 3 times as fast as the ARM.

When you look at virtualization, it sounds great, but a lot of people
don't realize that CPU scheduling and timing don't get you a 1:1
relationship between "core" and "virtualize core." Thus, you may have 16
cores, but that does not translate to four effective virtualized 4 core
VMs.  This is one of the reasons why "containers" perform better.
Containers are basically "chroot jails" with kernel enforced security and
name spaces. (Warning: over simplification) They are scheduled like every
other process in your system.

Would a stack of RPI5s, controlled by some sort of docker look-alike,
perform better than a huge VMware server? Would it perform better than a
large kubernetes cluster? Would they be more secure because they are
physically separated.

Thoughts?