Maxroll's Kubernetes Journey: Syself Autopilot Solutions
Introduction
Maxroll.gg is a popular platform for gamers and fans of online action role-playing games, requiring high-performance Kubernetes for games infrastructure. They serve thousands of users daily and provide useful resources and tools to enhance the gaming experience, such as guides, databases, and rankings.
The Challenge
Initially, Maxroll used Google Cloud Run as hosting solution, a good choice for a simple and scalable deployment. However, once the platform grew, both in users and complexity, it became clear that they needed to rebuild their infrastructure. The costs were too high and Google Cloud Run didn't offer the flexibility needed for their operations.
After studying the available options, Maxroll chose Hetzner as the cloud provider, which meant they needed to do self-managed Kubernetes - relying on DIY projects and tools. They used Terraform and Ansible to provision and manage the Hetzner infrastructure and RKE2 Kubernetes clusters. This self-managed solution offered them the necessary flexibility and was very cost-effective.
The downside was that the amount of work needed for the maintenance and operation of such an environment was taking a toll on their DevOps team. Maxroll didn't have the time to focus on new features and improvements, since their infrastructure demanded too much attention.
In order to leverage this, they searched for new solutions and services and found, among others, Suse Rancher, Sidero Talos, and Syself Autopilot.
The Solution
Syself Autopilot fulfilled their high demands on a Kubernetes solution in terms of flexibility, power, and ease of use.
Maxroll also needed some specific technical features, which Syself delivered on very short notice. That let Maxroll use the cost-efficient Hetzner ARM cloud machines, managed databases, as well as bare metal servers.
Working closely with Syself, Maxroll set up their production environment quickly, and it's much more powerful than their previous one. Syself Autopilot's automation also fits the way they manage their infrastructure with GitOps.
Results
Maxroll went through an intense round of testing and benchmarking. Syself proved to be more flexible than Rancher and offered a more polished experience than Sidero.
By adopting Syself, Maxroll significantly reduced the overhead associated with managing their Kubernetes clusters and infrastructure. Simultaneously, Maxroll was able to keep their infrastructure costs as low as with their self-managed solution.
