osmedeus/docs/cloud/cloud-provider-hetzner.md

Hetzner Provider Guide

Step-by-step guide for running osmedeus cloud on Hetzner Cloud servers. Hetzner offers the lowest cost per instance among all supported providers, making it ideal for high-volume scanning.

Prerequisites

• A Hetzner Cloud account (https://console.hetzner.cloud)
• An API token
• An SSH key pair (local ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)

Get Your API Token

1. Go to Hetzner Cloud Console > select your project (or create one)
2. Security > API Tokens > Generate API Token
3. Set permissions to Read & Write
4. Copy the token (shown only once)

You can also store it as an environment variable:

export HETZNER_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"

Configuration

Minimal Setup

# Enable cloud feature
osmedeus config set cloud.enabled true

# Credentials
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.token ${HETZNER_API_TOKEN}
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.location hel1
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.server_type "cx23"  # 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM (current generation)
osmedeus cloud config set defaults.provider hetzner

# SSH
osmedeus cloud config set ssh.private_key_path ~/.ssh/id_rsa
osmedeus cloud config set ssh.public_key_path ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
osmedeus cloud config set ssh.user root

# Clean the setup scripts first
osmedeus cloud config set setup.commands.clear ""

# Worker setup
osmedeus cloud config set setup.commands.add "sudo apt-get update"
osmedeus cloud config set setup.commands.add "sudo apt-get install -y -qq curl git tmux unzip jq rsync"
osmedeus cloud config set setup.commands.add "curl -fsSL https://www.osmedeus.org/install.sh | bash"
osmedeus cloud config set setup.commands.add "osmedeus install base --preset"

Server Types

Hetzner's pricing is significantly cheaper than other providers:

Server Type	vCPU	RAM	Disk	$/hr	$/month	Best For
cx22	2	4 GB	40 GB	~$0.007	~$4.50	Light scans, single targets
cx32	4	8 GB	80 GB	~$0.013	~$8.50	General scanning
cx42	8	16 GB	160 GB	~$0.025	~$16.50	Heavy scans, parallel tools
cx52	16	32 GB	320 GB	~$0.050	~$33.00	Large-scale operations
cpx21	3	4 GB	80 GB	~$0.008	~$5.50	CPU-optimized scanning
cpx31	4	8 GB	160 GB	~$0.015	~$10.00	CPU-optimized, more RAM

osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.server_type cx32

Locations

Location	Code	Region
Falkenstein	fsn1	Germany
Nuremberg	nbg1	Germany
Helsinki	hel1	Finland
Ashburn	ash	US East
Hillsboro	hil	US West
Singapore	sin	Asia

osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.location fsn1

Custom Image

Use a pre-built snapshot for faster boot:

# After setting up a server manually with all tools:
# Hetzner Console > Servers > your-server > Snapshots > Create Snapshot
# Note the snapshot ID

osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.image 12345678

SSH Key (optional)

If you have an SSH key registered in Hetzner Cloud:

# Hetzner Console > Security > SSH Keys > note the key name
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.ssh_key_name my-key-name

Cost Limits

osmedeus cloud config set limits.max_hourly_spend 0.50
osmedeus cloud config set limits.max_total_spend 5.00
osmedeus cloud config set limits.max_instances 20

Examples

Quick Domain Recon

osmedeus cloud run -f fast -t example.com --auto-destroy

Cost: ~$0.007 (1 x cx22 x 1 hour) -- less than a penny.

Budget Bulk Scanning

Hetzner's low prices make it perfect for scanning many targets:

# 20 workers scanning 200 targets for ~$0.28
osmedeus cloud run \
  -f fast -T targets.txt --instances 20 \
  --sync-back --auto-destroy

Cost: 20 x $0.007 x 2 hours = $0.28

Custom Command Pipeline

osmedeus cloud run \
  --custom-cmd "subfinder -d {{Target}} -o /tmp/osm-custom/subs.txt" \
  --custom-cmd "cat /tmp/osm-custom/subs.txt | httpx -o /tmp/osm-custom/live.txt" \
  --custom-cmd "cat /tmp/osm-custom/live.txt | nuclei -o /tmp/osm-custom/nuclei.txt" \
  --sync-path "/tmp/osm-custom/" \
  -t example.com --auto-destroy

Cost: ~$0.007

Distributed Nuclei at Scale

# Split 10,000 URLs across 10 Hetzner workers
osmedeus cloud run \
  --custom-cmd "cat {{Target}} | nuclei -o /tmp/osm-custom/results.txt" \
  --sync-path "/tmp/osm-custom/results.txt" \
  --sync-dest "./nuclei-hetzner" \
  -T urls.txt --instances 10 --auto-destroy

Cost: 10 x $0.007 x 1 hour = $0.07

Port Scanning

# Use a bigger instance for masscan (needs more resources)
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.server_type cx32

osmedeus cloud run \
  --custom-cmd "masscan {{Target}} -p1-65535 --rate 10000 -oG /tmp/osm-custom/masscan.txt" \
  --custom-cmd "cat /tmp/osm-custom/masscan.txt | grep 'Host:' | awk '{print \$2\":\" \$5}' | sed 's|/.*||' > /tmp/osm-custom/open-ports.txt" \
  --sync-path "/tmp/osm-custom/" \
  -t 203.0.113.0/24 --auto-destroy

Persistent Low-Cost Lab

# Create 5 workers and keep them running all day
osmedeus cloud create --provider hetzner -n 5

# Run multiple scans throughout the day
osmedeus cloud run -f fast -t target1.com --reuse
osmedeus cloud run --custom-cmd "nmap -sV {{Target}}" -t target2.com --reuse
osmedeus cloud run -f general -T targets.txt --reuse

# Destroy at end of day
osmedeus cloud destroy all --force

Cost: 5 x $0.007 x 8 hours = $0.28 for a full day of scanning on 5 machines.

EU-Based Scanning

Hetzner's European locations are useful when you need scans originating from EU IP space:

# Use German datacenter
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.location fsn1
osmedeus cloud run -f fast -t eu-target.com --auto-destroy

# Use Finnish datacenter
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.location hel1
osmedeus cloud run -f fast -t nordic-target.com --auto-destroy

High-Performance with cx42

# Use 8 vCPU / 16 GB RAM instance for heavy parallel scanning
osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.server_type cx42

osmedeus cloud run \
  --custom-cmd "subfinder -d {{Target}} -all -o /tmp/osm-custom/subs.txt" \
  --custom-cmd "cat /tmp/osm-custom/subs.txt | httpx -td -threads 200 -o /tmp/osm-custom/live.txt" \
  --custom-cmd "cat /tmp/osm-custom/live.txt | nuclei -c 100 -o /tmp/osm-custom/nuclei.txt" \
  --custom-cmd "cat /tmp/osm-custom/live.txt | katana -d 3 -jc -o /tmp/osm-custom/crawl.txt" \
  --sync-path "/tmp/osm-custom/" \
  -t example.com --auto-destroy

Cost: ~$0.025 per hour

Cost Comparison

Why Hetzner is the cheapest option for bulk scanning:

Scenario	Hetzner (cx22)	DigitalOcean (s-2vcpu-4gb)	AWS (t3.medium)
1 instance x 1 hour	$0.007	$0.022	$0.042
5 instances x 2 hours	$0.07	$0.22	$0.42
10 instances x 4 hours	$0.28	$0.89	$1.66
20 instances x 8 hours	$1.12	$3.57	$6.66

Hetzner is ~3x cheaper than DigitalOcean and ~6x cheaper than AWS for equivalent specs.

Troubleshooting

"Unauthorized" Error

Your API token is invalid or expired. Generate a new one in the Hetzner Cloud Console.

osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.token <new-token>

Server Type Not Available

Some server types may not be available in all locations. Try a different location:

osmedeus cloud config set providers.hetzner.location nbg1

SSH Connection Issues

Hetzner servers default to root user:

osmedeus cloud config set ssh.user root

Verify your SSH key is correctly configured:

osmedeus cloud run --custom-cmd "whoami" -t test --verbose-setup

Rate Limiting

Hetzner's API has rate limits. If creating many instances at once, you may hit them. Space out creation or contact Hetzner support to increase limits.

Cleaning Up

# List all infrastructure
osmedeus cloud list

# Destroy specific
osmedeus cloud destroy <infra-id>

# Destroy everything
osmedeus cloud destroy all --force

# If out of sync, check Hetzner Console directly:
# Console > Servers > look for osmedeus-prefixed servers

Best Practices

1. Use cx22 as default -- 2 vCPU / 4 GB is enough for most scans at $0.007/hr
2. Scale horizontally -- 10 x cx22 is cheaper and faster than 1 x cx52 for parallelizable workloads
3. Always --auto-destroy -- even at $0.007/hr, forgotten instances add up
4. Use European locations (fsn1, nbg1) for lowest latency to Hetzner's network
5. Pre-build snapshots for frequently-used tool configurations to skip setup time
6. Set modest cost limits -- even $5.00 max_total_spend goes a long way at Hetzner pricing