Curious to know what the experiences are for those who are sticking to bare metal. Would like to better understand what keeps such admins from migrating to containers, Docker, Podman, Virtual Machines, etc. What keeps you on bare metal in 2025?

  • melfie@lemy.lolEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    I use k3s and enjoy benefits like the following over bare metal:

    • Configuration as code where my whole setup is version controlled in git
    • Containers and avoiding dependency hell
    • Built-in reverse proxy with the Traefik ingress controller. Combined with DNS in my OpenWRT router, all of my self hosted apps can be accessed via appname.lan (e.g., jellyfin.lan, forgejo.lan)
    • Declarative network policies with Calico, mainly to make sure nothing phones home
    • Managing secrets securely in git with Bitnami Sealed Secrets
    • Liveness probes that automatically “turn it off and on again” when something goes wrong

    These are just some of the benefits just for one server. Add more and the benefits increase.

    Edit:

    Sorry, I realize this post is asking why go bare metal, not why k3s and containers are great. 😬