Because I already have a kubernetes cluster with distributed storage. This way makes it somewhat standard with the rest of my setup. In SRE things the real enemy is when parts are unique in ways that conflict with the normal way of doing things. Look up at the "unique/standard" comment above and then take a moment to think about it. It sounds absurd from the first read; but when you realize that it allows me to reuse the hardware I have and take advantage of the second order properties I've done, then it makes more sense.

This is also why I design all my config files to use YAML. I've already got powerful tools to deal with its quirks (JSONSchema, yq, yamllint)

Mostly because VM tooling is stuck in the past.