Is Running EKS with Off-AWS Nodes a Viable Approach?

Working with hybrid setups is fairly common. At my company, we run the control plane on EC2 and use a tool called Talos which simplifies things a lot. We create a secure tunnel between AWS and our on-prem workers, which allows us to save on costs and provides flexibility. This setup permits us to burst to AWS anytime there's a capacity issue, and it’s a great way to optimize costs while still keeping everything manageable.

Running EKS with off-AWS nodes seems risky to me. Imagine it failing in the middle of the night because of connectivity issues — that can quickly escalate costs! You might face serious problems with networking and security setup too. I advise going for a separate lightweight cluster and handling batch jobs there while keeping your main workloads in EKS. You'll save a lot of headaches in the long run.

You can definitely achieve a similar setup without relying solely on AWS. I have a Wireguard node VPS that connects my home server to a public IP, allowing me to run a k3s cluster at home. It works wonderfully for low-traffic sites! This kind of approach could provide the flexibility and cost savings you're looking for without being tied into AWS.

I've considered this too, and there are definitely some downsides. For critical applications, local latency can be a real issue since response times matter a lot. While some batch processes could work on remote nodes, you'd need a robust infrastructure to handle them efficiently. If running on local machines isn't viable, why not stick with spot instances? They’re often much cheaper, and compliance with data regulations could be a hurdle. Overall, unless you have spare machines and serious cost issues, I don't see it being worth the hassle.