I want to note that this has actually been possible since like k8s 1.7, you can just start a DB with node affinity and use hostPath volumes. That's what I was

I want to note that this has actually been possible since like k8s 1.7, you can just start a DB with node affinity and use hostPath volumes. That's what I was doing until rook came around. If you're running in something like AWS (or even if you're not), you can also do something like attach an EBS volume (to a local host) and do that. Or, you can set up a plain ISCSI drive (or get one from your provider, even basic providers these days might offer storage that way) and use that. There have been a LOT of choices for a long time.