Sidero Metal: easy bare metal Kubernetes at scale

Sidero Metal delivers Kubernetes on bare metal. Easily, securely, repeatably.
Walk in to a datacenter with just a laptop, and in minutes turn a rack of servers into secure, production ready, bare metal Kubernetes clusters.

A Cluster API provider for bare metal to automate server provisioning and lifecycle management.
Clusters are provisioned automatically, resulting in a secure Kubernetes deployment.
includes a metadata service, PXE and TFTP servers, as well as BMC and IPMI management for automation.
100% Open Source

For building multiple clusters or a private cloud, Sidero Metal is the right choice. (If you are looking to deploy just a few bare metal clusters, check out Sidero Omni for a simple SaaS solution, or boot Talos Linux directly.)

Running Kubernetes on bare metal can be as easy as....

Install Sidero Metal

Install a local Talos Linux Kubernetes cluster on your laptop in minutes. You can use this cluster to easily bootstrap Sidero Metal.

Define Server Classes

Server Classes can be based on attributes such as memory, hardware or CPU capacity, custom tags, or any combination.

Power on servers

Power on servers to register them with Sidero Metal and have them automatically allocated to Server Classes.

Define your cluster

Define your cluster in terms of servers from each Server Class, and the number of worker/master nodes.

Magic Happens!

Apply the cluster manifest with kubectl. Sidero Metal will reboot the appropriate servers, install Talos Linux, install Kubernetes, and securely configure the new cluster.

Security was crucial. We wanted to make sure the footprint and accessibility of the servers was as minimal as possible. Talos Linux and Sidero Metal did that. It is better, faster, more efficient.

Janne Heino

Nokia

Once you have your first bare metal Kubernetes cluster created, it’s simple to migrate the Sidero management plane to the production cluster. You can then spin up other clusters in moments, and manage them all easily and securely.

Manage Cluster Capacity

Easily add/remove nodes from clusters simply by changing the cluster manifest. Nodes can be added to the cluster, or wiped and returned to the unallocated pool, or de-allocated entirely.

Destroy/rebuild clusters

Cleaning up a cluster is simple: kubectl delete cluster my-cluster
Once deleted, Sidero handles everything to completely wipe the servers and return them to the unallocated pool.

Self Healing Kubernetes

If a node fails, a new one is automatically provisioned from the server pool. The old node is deleted, wiped, and if it can be recovered by a reboot/reinstall, it is returned to the pool for next use, otherwise it is flagged for attention.

Upgrade Kubernetes

Use your Sidero management plane to automate the upgrades and management of all your Kubernetes clusters and the underlying OS, ensuring stability and security.

Sidero Metal is the perfect solution for our in-house Kubernetes needs. Since Sidero itself is based on Kubernetes the whole setup is a breeze and feels very familiar. We could provision our first clusters within the same hour!

Gerard de Leeuw

Craftsmen BV

Proven at Scale

See how Nokia uses Sidero Metal to provide an internal cloud at a large scale.

talosctl upgrade-k8s --to 1.27.1

Upgrading a cluster – Kubernetes, the OS, or both – has never been so easy.

Ready to get started?

You can have a bare metal cluster running today!

Sidero Metal is a great tool for multi-cluster bare metal deployments. If you are only creating one cluster, it is simpler to just boot Talos Linux directly. See the Talos Linux Getting Started guide.

Want to try Sidero Metal and Talos Linux out by yourself? We recommend the following steps.

Get Familiar with Talos Linux

Sidero Metal creates clusters based on Talos Linux, so it pays to be familiar with it first.

Install a Talos Linux cluster on your local machine in Docker, using the Quickstart guide.
Join our community on Slack or Matrix to ask questions.
Get support at GitHub Discussions.

Deploy on Bare Metal:

Once you are ready to deploy Kubernetes on “real” infrastructure:

Read the Talos Linux Getting Started guide, as well as:
the Sidero Metal Getting Started guide.

If you run into any issues, reach out via Slack or Matrix, or contact us, and we can setup a call to work through any problems