Hey everyone! I'm fairly new to Kubernetes and have only set up a single cluster with k3s and Rancher in my home lab, where I have multiple nodes. I now want to use a VPS as my k3s control plane while employing dedicated nodes from Hetzner as workers. My aim here is to minimize costs. Do you think this setup is realistic? Additionally, would such a configuration be viable for deploying a production-grade service in the future?
1 Answer
When it comes to production, the term "production grade" can mean different things depending on your needs. Many would argue that relying on just a single k3s node doesn't meet production standards since it's not highly available. If budget is tight, I'd suggest utilizing hardware you already own. However, keep in mind that separating the control plane and worker nodes can lead to connectivity challenges, especially if they're in different networks. You'll need to consider solutions like VPNs or exposing things to the public internet, based on your app's requirements for latency and availability.
I plan on using this setup primarily during the development phase, possibly moving to a managed control plane later. However, since my service is memory-intensive, dedicated nodes seem like a cost-effective solution. I’m also leaning towards using VPNs for secure connections.