this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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Looking to build a K8s cluster, what are your strategies for finding affordable hardware? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 weeks ago by Eldaroth@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I currently run all my self-hosted apps either on Podman in a VM or in LXCs on Proxmox. For hardware, I'm using a Chinese-made mini computer with an Intel N150 and 16GB of DDR5 RAM that I bought before the whole AI hype started. I also have a Synology NAS that I use mainly for media and photo storage.

I've been thinking about tinkering with Kubernetes in my homelab for a while now (I already use it extensively at work, so I'm quite familiar with it), and I started looking around for used hardware to use as bare metal nodes. Nothing fancy—I'm looking for 1 or 2 mini servers or SFF with at least 16GB of memory and a decent CPU (4–6 cores). But with current prices, even decently priced used hardware (~200–250€) is quite difficult to find in Europe, and most of it is HP stuff with Lenovo being a rare breed around here. I won't even get started on newly bought hardware...

If you've bought hardware in this market recently, how did it go for you? Or are most of you holding out for now, waiting for better times?

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[–] zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Do not run kubernetes nodes as LXC. I mean you can for testing etc... BUt you will have to break sandboxing because of networking capabilities kubernetes requires. At least that was the case for K3S. You could probably have better experience with Kind.

[–] Eldaroth@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not planning to run nodes as LXC at all. Just using them in my current setup for running services like Wireguard or Jellyfin.

At most I would create VMs for nodes, but still on the fence if I should just go bare metal or proxmox with virtualized nodes (VM).

[–] zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

I would go with two (or more) proxmox nodes working as one. And then running even more VMs on them as kubernetes nodes. Proxmox handles lots of stuff for yout that is harder to handle in phusical machine.