Dedicated servers are the cheapest way to run sustained Kubernetes workloads on Hetzner. You get far more CPU and ECC RAM per euro than cloud instances, at a flat monthly price.
Setting them up by hand is a bit more involved than cloud; you reinstall the OS, wire the private network, and join each node yourself. Edka does that part for you. You pick the servers you own, and we handle the rest.
How it works
Edka keeps the Kubernetes control plane on Hetzner Cloud and adds your dedicated servers as worker nodes. Both join the same private network over a Hetzner vSwitch, so they run as one cluster.
This is the split that works in production: cloud workers for traffic that comes and goes, metal workers for the steady load like databases, search, and queues, where a flat-rate box is cheaper.
When you add a metal pool, Edka attaches the servers to a vSwitch, reinstalls a clean Debian with RAID 1, installs the cluster SSH key, and joins each node as a Kubernetes worker. Load balancers then work across cloud and metal nodes with no extra config.
Demo video
Setting it up
- Add a Hetzner Robot integration with your Robot web service credentials.
- In Cluster Settings → Node Pools, add a pool with provider Hetzner Dedicated.
- Pick the servers to attach from your Robot account.
- Click Update Node Pools. Edka checks SSH, configures the vSwitch, and provisions the nodes.
Worth knowing
- You own the hardware. Edka never orders or cancels servers. They live in your Hetzner account and stay there if you ever detach Edka.
- The first provision wipes the disk. Each server gets a clean OS, so only attach servers you are ready to erase.
- Existing clusters may need to be recreated. Older clusters used a full /16 private subnet, so they cannot attach another /24 subnet for a Metal pool. New Edka clusters use a /24 automatically, so more can be added later.
What you get
Your infrastructure stays in your own Hetzner account, billed by Hetzner with no markup from us. Edka runs the platform layer on top. With metal pools you get the price of dedicated servers and the experience of managed Kubernetes, in one cluster.
Full details are in the Metal server pools docs.
Start building or book a demo if you want a walkthrough.