I'm currently hosting a variety of websites (mostly WordPress and Laravel) on individual Hetzner CX32 servers, each with 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, and 80 GB disk space. I have around 25 of these servers, and with increasing client demands, managing this setup is becoming quite messy. I'm considering transitioning to a lightweight k3s cluster and implementing Rook Ceph for shared storage across the nodes to streamline deployments. I'm thinking about starting with 5 Hetzner CX42 servers, which have 8 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM, and 160 GB disk. I have a few questions: Is this hardware sufficient to run k3s and Rook Ceph reliably for production? What minimum specs would you recommend to avoid issues down the line? Also, are there any specific challenges or drawbacks I should know about when using Ceph with Hetzner, like network or disk performance issues? I want to ensure I'm not overbuilding, but also want to avoid under-provisioning that leads to constant maintenance. Any input from those who have experience would be greatly appreciated!
1 Answer
I'd recommend skipping Ceph for this situation. Instead, consider using the Hetzner CSI driver to access their block storage directly. It's faster and more reliable, plus it'll minimize the overhead you’d encounter with a Ceph setup.
I get that, but I really need shared storage to keep things organized. With shared storage, I don't have to worry about where a pod goes or if volumes get randomly attached or detached, which makes managing autoscaling a lot easier.