Hey everyone! I've taken on the task of figuring out options for an in-office server setup for our dev team, specifically to gain hands-on experience with technologies like Kubernetes. Right now, we're using managed Windows VMs from our hosting provider, but they have quoted us a pretty steep price for setting up a container environment with OpenShift. We're considering setting something up in-house instead, primarily for development and testing—not production workloads—so we expect to run a lot of containers, including CI/CD, logging, and monitoring.
For specs, we're thinking of needing a powerful CPU, around 64GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. The plan is to get two machines to create an actual cluster, likely running Rocky Linux to keep it close to RHEL. The NAS and router will be separate.
Here are some categories I've been considering for these machines and would love your input on pricing:
1. **Rack Servers**: This option seems like it could get expensive quickly, and I'm not sure where to even start with the specs.
2. **Prebuilt Desktops**: Finding a decent prebuilt desktop with 64GB RAM tends to lead us to the higher-end PCs, and locating one without an expensive GPU is tricky. Probably not the best option, but I'm open to suggestions if you know any good ones.
3. **Self-Built Desktops**: I can easily put something together using PCPartPicker. I would appreciate any recommendations for a good CPU choice here.
4. **Mini PCs**: An example like the ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ could work for us, outfitted with 2x32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, totaling around €1,000, so about €2,000 for two nodes.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
4 Answers
Just a heads-up, for on-prem solutions, you'll need to ensure that the machines comply with any industry standards you have. If you're free to choose, consider running a simple setup with OpenShift that could handle multiple workloads. I've done it with a minimal investment, utilizing a few mini PCs and simple storage.
I've set up multiple ASUS NUCs at my office, and they're fantastic for this kind of work! When you weigh the price against space and performance, a mini PC is actually a great choice. You might want to look into those options more closely.
Honestly, you don't have to spend a fortune. I run a homelab with a Kubernetes cluster using an Intel NUC 12 (i5) with 64GB RAM and a 2TB SSD, all for about $500. I got the NUC used, and the RAM second-hand, which helped reduce costs significantly. Older NUC models could be even cheaper.
Have you checked who your hosting provider is? If they're pushing you more towards managed services, they might not be your best bet. Sometimes, you can get lower-spec Linux VMs for testing, but it sounds like they're not giving you that option.
Yeah, unfortunately, our provider only wants to stick to managed VMs, and their Linux options are pricier than Windows VMs. That's why I'm exploring this in-office solution.