K8S cluster with existing nodes

Although you can't join existing Linode to an LKE cluster at this time, you are able to install K8S (or I personally use K3S) on that Linode to create your own Kubernetes cluster. You can do this by either installing kubeadm on Linodes or by deploying and managing a new cluster with Rancher.

Before you get started, you will need to keep in mind that swap must be disabled on each Linode: sudo swapoff -a, and you may not have success using the cluster if you attempt to install K8S/K3S on Nanodes. Most (if not all) of the Nanode's resources will be used up by the operating system/kernel and the Kubernetes environment, so you may not have enough remaining RAM/CPU to functionally run any programs.

Besides the guides linked above, I've always found it helpful to refer back to source material whenever possible, so I've included that here:

• Installing kubeadm | Kubernetes
• Installation | K3s