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k3s cluster: 1 Dedicated vs 2-3 multiple VPS
I deployed k3s over 2 VPS recently for learning and will later deploy some hobby websites like grafana, wordpress, bookstac etc.
I only deployed the rancherUI and havent done anything, the load is already so high.
master (4cpu, 16ram) @$4/mth : cpu 77%, 4.5 sys load
worker (2cpu, 6ram) @$2/mth : cpu 73%, 2.2 sys load
Total cluster: 6 core, 22ram @$6/mth
Option 1)
If I buy a cheap dedicated like KS-xxx (service transfer) (e.g., E5-1650v4 6core) as master,
will it's cpu load actually be reduced to like < 20% due to dedicated, so all resources to myself only? Then after I can lapse my original master and/or worker VPS to cut cost. (but it sort of defeat the cluster purposes, since single node, might as well go docker way)
Option 2)
I just need to purchase another 4core VPS to add as 2nd worker node, so that I can start deploying applications. That way, these 3 VPS combined is still cheaper (~$10/mth) than 1 dedicated server monthly price.

Comments
May I know what provider you are getting the servers from, for that kind of hardware at that price?
Are you possibly encountering CPU steal? What processor model is behind those cores and have you looked into what processes are consuming that much CPU usage?
I am asking the questions above assuming the CPU percentage is for total of the system and not in a situation where 100% == 1 core. I am running the exact same setup with RKE2 and Rancher, and my 4 core master nodes are only at ~20% CPU utilization each, so I don't think the dedicated servers will help you much unless your current VPSes are suffering from a suffocating amount of steal.
I bought the 2 VPS over BF sales and got the double ram bonus hence the cheap price.
master: AMD EPYC 7642
worker: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
cpu load from grafana but double-confirmed all cores avg 70+% using
topRecent Rancher v2.11 has issues with current k3s v.32.3 which causes the high load I guess. Had the same problem too. Only solution is to disable rancherUI until v2.11.1 is released along with new k3s version.
Generally, I'd be interested too in feedback whether a dedicated or several small vms are preffered. Currently I'm using several small ones but latency from controlpane to worker nodes is kicking in on some apps.
Where is the source? Can't we just downgrade rancherUI to v2.10 or lower?
Ah that makes more sense!
The Rancher usage does not seem to be normal, have you noticed anything wrong like errors from the interface or anything of that sort? Perhaps check logs? Below is the
topresult on my master node on 7C13.I don't think you can downgrade the controlplane easily. Their git has some more information even though it's just few information because v2.10.4 with older k3s is stable (or prime how rancher calls it) and it doesn't have those problems.
Would make sense, I am having no issues on RKE2 here.
@nicholasoh
How many rancher replicas do you have?
I just found out I have like 3? (don't count webhook)
Is it because too many replicas?
I also have 3 replicas, so I don't think that's the issue. I believe that's just for Rancher's HA. Also to be noted, I am running Rancher v2.10.2.
That's just one, not three replicas. Check replicas with:
kubectl get deployment rancher -n cattle-system -o jsonpath='{.spec.replicas}'From https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/getting-started/installation-and-upgrade/install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster
I used 'latest' for
<CHART_REPO>It installed v2.11 for me and my k3s is v1.32.3+k3s1
Tomorrow I tried to downgrade rancher to v2.10.x and see
If it's a new installation just reinstall with
stableinstead oflatestwould be the easiest I guess. Downgrading on the controlplane results in problems in my experience.Same result for me here, but apologies if I got the technical terms wrong, quite new to K8s as well.
Yeah that probably sounds like the best plan. Moving over to dedicated won't fix the Rancher CPU issue, I don't think.
Finally understood what you meant https://github.com/rancher/rancher/releases
only rancher v2.11 support k3s v1.32
means i need to downgrade both!!!
@webcraft @nicholasoh
thanks guys, i think i got it resolved.
i added the
rancher-alpharepo and didhelm upgrade rancher rancher-alpha/rancherto v2.11.1-alpha2also did a
sudo systemctl restart k3sand all remains good thus not by chance it got resolved.That sounds fantastic, very glad to hear you got it resolved!
Thanks for sharing the solution. I was going a step back to stable but going one step further at the edge sometimes solve it too.
If you really want to learn, do NOT use the Rancher UI.
this is the proper way to learn kubernetes: https://github.com/kelseyhightower/kubernetes-the-hard-way
i just find out that the rancher is more of a info board and so much less i can do via UI compared to openshift. anyway my purpose is to learn to learn ingress, route, LB etc. basically the networking side. frankly speaking i was pretty paralysed during k3s deployment, i acquire 90%
kubectlcmds help from chatgpt so like you suggested, will use the terminal often to deploy stuff.thanks for the input, i see that it is full k8s? my current and prev job use openshift through cloud provisioning, hence i dont ready get my hands that dirty. i just want to learn enough for my job scope, not ready to dive into getting bare metal and deploy k8s or openshift from scratch but thanks, will take a look at the material.