On-prem/Alternative clouds (Hetzner, OVH, etc.) lock-in assessment¶

Lock-in risks¶

• Custom APIs:

  • Hetzner Cloud API (e.g., for dedicated servers)

  • Proprietary networking (e.g., OVH vRack)

• Managed Services:

  • Hetzner Kubernetes (custom CNI/load balancers)

  • Storage solutions (e.g., Ceph-based but with unique management)

• Data Gravity:

  • No egress fees, but physical migration is slow.

How to check for lock-in¶

1. Inventory: Manually review VM templates, network configs.

2. API Audit: Check for hcloud-go (Hetzner SDK) or ovh-python.

3. Portability Test: Export VMs to QCOW2/OVA and test in other clouds.

Mitigation strategies¶

• Use Kubernetes (vanilla, not managed) for portability.

• Avoid proprietary storage; use Ceph/MinIO for S3 compatibility.

• Keep backups in open formats (SQL dumps, CSV, Parquet).