ai-cloud
Bare Metal Kubernetes for AI Cloud Providers
Provision fully isolated, CNCF-certified tenant clusters directly on GPU hardware. vMetal eliminates VM overhead and k3s dependencies so you launch faster at bare metal performance.
Trusted by the fastest-growing AI cloud providers
Problem
Why Bare Metal Kubernetes Is Hard
Traditional approaches force costly tradeoffs between performance, isolation, and time to market.
VM Overhead Kills GPU Performance
Hypervisor layers between your bare metal and workloads waste GPU cycles and add latency your tenants will notice.
Namespace Isolation Is Too Weak
Tenants can see platform internals they should not — cluster-wide agents, other tenants' nodes and pods.
DIY Takes Years Not Months
Based on industry estimates, building a GPU cloud platform typically requires 6 to 10 engineers, 6 to 12 months, and over a million dollars in investment.
Solution
One Stack from Bare Metal to Tenant Clusters
vCluster delivers the complete path from GPU rack to managed Kubernetes. vMetal handles zero-touch bare metal provisioning, vCluster Standalone runs as a binary directly on bare metal with no k3s or kubeadm dependency, and every tenant gets a fully isolated, CNCF-certified Kubernetes cluster in seconds.
Built for Bare Metal Kubernetes at GPU Scale
Every layer of the stack is purpose-built for AI cloud providers running workloads directly on GPU hardware.
Bare Metal
Zero-Touch Bare Metal Provisioning
vMetal handles PXE boot, OS installation, machine registration, and full GPU server lifecycle management from rack to production — with no manual steps and no external dependencies.
- PXE boot and OS install automated
- GPU server lifecycle management
- Network automation via Netris integration
K8s Distribution
Kubernetes as a Single Binary
vCluster Standalone runs directly on bare metal Linux as a lightweight binary — no k3s, kubeadm, or external Kubernetes layer required. The simplest path to bare metal Kubernetes.
- No k3s or kubeadm dependency
- Runs directly on bare metal Linux
- Lightweight single-binary deployment
Tenant Isolation
Isolated Tenant Control Planes in Seconds
Each tenant gets a dedicated API server, etcd, scheduler, and RBAC running as a lightweight pod — fully isolated, CNCF-certified Kubernetes without provisioning separate physical clusters.
- Own API server and etcd per tenant
- CNCF-certified K8s per tenant cluster
- Spins up in seconds not hours
Dynamic Scaling
Auto-Provision GPU Nodes on Demand
Auto Nodes acts as bare metal Karpenter — automatically provisioning GPU nodes via Terraform when tenants schedule workloads, so hardware scales with demand without manual intervention.
- Automatic GPU node provisioning
- Terraform-driven bare metal scaling
- No manual node management
Workload Security
Kernel-Native Workload Isolation
vNode (currently in private beta) delivers container breakout protection using seccomp, cgroups, namespaces, and AppArmor — preserving bare metal GPU performance while preventing workload escape across tenant boundaries.
- No hypervisor tax on GPU performance
- Container breakout protection built in
- Compatible with gVisor and Kata Containers
Why vCluster
This isn’t a side project. Behind every vCluster deployment is 5+ years of deep K8s engineering, security hardening, and battle-tested infrastructure work at massive scale.
100K+
GPU Nodes Powered
50+
GPU Clouds & F500s
<45
Days to Launch
30K
GitHub Stars
Get Started in 3 Steps
1
Schedule a Demo
Talk to our team about your stack
2
Deploy vCluster
Deploy vCluster on your infra in minutes
3
Onboard Your Tenants
Go live with a hyperscaler-grade tenant experience in days
FAQs
What makes vCluster different from using k3s or kubeadm on bare metal?
vCluster Standalone runs as a single binary directly on bare metal Linux, replacing k3s or kubeadm as the base layer entirely. Beyond the distribution itself, vMetal adds zero-touch provisioning — PXE boot, OS installation, machine registration, and network automation — so you go from a bare rack to a production Kubernetes cluster without manual steps. Stacked on top, each tenant gets a fully isolated, CNCF-certified Kubernetes cluster in seconds — which k3s and kubeadm do not provide natively without additional tooling.
How does tenant isolation work on bare metal Kubernetes with vCluster?
vCluster virtualizes the Kubernetes control plane itself. Each tenant receives a dedicated API server, etcd, scheduler, and RBAC running as a lightweight pod inside the host cluster. Tenants cannot see other tenants' nodes, pods, or platform internals. For stronger isolation, tenants can be assigned Private Nodes — fully dedicated physical hardware with their own CNI and CSI. vNode (currently in private beta) adds kernel-native workload isolation at the container level without any hypervisor overhead.
Does vCluster support GPU workloads directly on bare metal?
Yes. The full stack — vMetal for bare metal provisioning, vCluster Standalone as the Kubernetes distribution, and vCluster for tenant cluster orchestration — is production-proven across 100K+ GPU nodes. vCluster is named in the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD reference architecture. Auto Nodes automatically provisions GPU bare metal via Terraform when tenant workloads are scheduled, and vNode (private beta) preserves bare metal GPU performance while enforcing workload isolation.
How long does it take to go from bare metal hardware to a managed Kubernetes offering?
Boost Run launched a managed Kubernetes service in less than 45 days using vCluster. Lintasarta launched Indonesia's leading GPU cloud in 90 days with 170+ tenant clusters. vMetal's zero-touch provisioning eliminates the manual steps typically required to stand up bare metal Kubernetes, and pre-validated AI stacks for Run:AI, Ray, and Jupyter reduce platform integration time from weeks to minutes.
Is vCluster certified Kubernetes on bare metal?
Yes. Every tenant cluster created by vCluster is a CNCF-certified Kubernetes distribution — 100% API-compatible with upstream Kubernetes. Tenants interact with a real Kubernetes API server, can install their own CRDs, and have full cluster-admin access within their isolated environment. This holds true whether control planes run as lightweight pods or as dedicated VMs for stricter OS-level separation.
Can bare metal Kubernetes with vCluster run in air-gapped or compliance environments?
Yes. vCluster supports air-gapped and FIPS deployment for environments with strict compliance or network isolation requirements. Combined with vMetal's on-premises bare metal provisioning and vNode's kernel-native workload isolation (private beta), the full stack can operate in disconnected environments without dependence on cloud APIs or external registries. This makes it suitable for regulated enterprises and GPU cloud providers with data sovereignty requirements.
Launch Bare Metal Kubernetes in Days
See how vCluster powers GPU clouds from rack to isolated tenant clusters.
