

Sounds like capitalism at work, pricing to suit demand :( Not a great idea to let a domain fall out of grace if there’s ever a chance you’ll want it again.
In work we still maintain domains for arms of the parent company that are long defunct. Less for us and more to prevent others registering.
I’ve had one personal domain go out of grace, but the reactivation price wasn’t too bad. Cheeky, yes - but not bad enough to get something new.
Could be worse, could end up at auction like hexbear did…
On Dell server hardware with the right cards/licensing, you can remove the need for physical access to the server to input an FDE password by leaning on iDRAC. This provides access to the console remotely during the boot process (and thereafter).
Alternatives exist that supposedly do the same thing, but I’ve never had to try them. Airconsole, pikvm, blikvm etc.
You can keep this interface unexposed by using wireguard to dial in when you’re away, as per your original thinking. Just make sure the endpoint isn’t on the server you’re rebooting…