OS Images
Hetzner Cloud OS images available for cluster nodes, and why the default is Debian 13.
Hetzner Cloud offers the following Debian/Ubuntu images:
| Image | Name | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
debian-13 | Debian 13 Trixie | Recommended for K8s |
debian-12 | Debian 12 Bookworm | Stable, well-proven |
ubuntu-24.04 | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | Good for K8s |
ubuntu-22.04 | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | Well-proven |
Why Debian 13?
- Stability: long support cycles
- Compatibility: the
pkgs.k8s.ioapt repository used for kubeadm, kubelet, and kubectl ships Debian packages - Small footprint: leaner than Ubuntu, but not as small as Alpine
- No glibc/musl issues: unlike Alpine, no compatibility problems
Hetzner Cloud doesn’t provide dedicated “slim” or “minimal” variants. The standard images are fairly compact already.