When teams consider deploying Kubernetes, one of the first questions that arises is: where should it run? The default answer is often the public cloud, thanks to its flexibility and ease of use. However, a growing number of organizations are revisiting the advantages of running Kubernetes directly on bare metal servers. For workloads that demand maximum performance, predictable latency, and direct hardware access, bare metal Kubernetes can achieve results that virtualized or cloud-hosted environments simply cannot match.
Why Bare Metal Still Matters
Virtualization and cloud abstractions have delivered convenience, but they also introduce overhead. By eliminating the virtualization layer, applications gain direct access to CPUs, memory, storage devices, and network interfaces. This architectural difference translates into tangible benefits:
- Near-Native Performance – Applications can leverage the full power of the hardware, experiencing minimal overhead from hypervisors or cloud APIs. (Cloud Native Bare Metal Report, CNCF 2023)
- Predictable Latency – A critical factor in industries such as real-time analytics, telecommunications, and financial trading, where even microseconds matter.
- Efficient Hardware Utilization – GPUs, NVMe storage, or SmartNICs can be accessed directly, without restrictions or performance bottlenecks introduced by virtualization.
- Cost Optimization – For workloads that are steady and long-term, owning and operating bare metal servers can be significantly more cost-effective than continuously paying cloud provider bills (IDC: Bare Metal Economics).
- Deep Infrastructure Control – Operators can configure firmware, tune networking, and manage storage directly, without depending on the abstractions and limitations imposed by cloud environments.
Bare metal provides power and control, but it comes with its own challenge: managing servers at scale. This is precisely where Bare Metal as a Service (BMaaS) steps in.
Bare Metal as a Service with metal-stack.io
metal-stack is an open-source platform that makes bare metal infrastructure as easy to consume as cloud resources. It provides a self-service model for physical servers, automating provisioning, networking, and lifecycle management. Essentially, it transforms racks of hardware into a cloud-like environment—while retaining the performance advantages of bare metal.
Key capabilities of metal-stack.io include:
- Automated Provisioning – Servers can be deployed with clean, reproducible operating system images, similar to how VMs are created in cloud environments.
- Integrated Networking – With BGP-based routing and compatibility with Kubernetes CNI plugins like Cilium or Calico, metal-stack ensures high-performance and secure networking. Load balancing can be handled with MetalLB.
- Multi-Tenant Support – Physical machines can be securely assigned to different teams or projects, enabling isolation and resource fairness.
- Kubernetes-Native Integration – Kubernetes clusters can be provisioned directly onto bare metal nodes via metal-ccm, Gardener, or the Cluster API Provider for Metal-Stack (CAPMS).
- Open Source Foundation – The entire stack is open source (MIT/AGPL), ensuring transparency, avoiding vendor lock-in, and allowing teams to adapt the system to their unique needs.
By using metal-stack.io, organizations don’t need to compromise between the raw speed of bare metal and the automation of cloud infrastructure—they can have both.
Building the Bare Metal Kubernetes Stack
Deploying Kubernetes on bare metal requires assembling several components into a complete ecosystem. With metal-stack at the foundation, additional layers ensure resilience, security, and operational visibility:
- Networking – Pair metal-stack’s BGP routing with a Kubernetes CNI like Cilium for low-latency, policy-driven communication.
- Storage – Tools like Rook (Ceph) or OpenEBS create distributed, high-speed storage pools that can survive node failures.
- Observability – Monitoring with Prometheus, and logging with Loki or ELK, provide the insights needed to manage both hardware and workloads effectively.
- Security – Without the isolation of virtualization, it becomes essential to enforce RBAC, Pod Security Standards, and strict network policies.
- Lifecycle Management – While metal-stack automates the server lifecycle, Kubernetes operators and GitOps tools (e.g., ArgoCD or Flux) help automate application deployment and ongoing operations.
This layered approach turns bare metal clusters into production-ready platforms capable of handling enterprise-grade workloads.
Real-World Use Cases
Bare metal Kubernetes shines in scenarios where hardware performance and low latency are non-negotiable. Some standout use cases include:
- AI/ML Training – Direct access to GPUs accelerates machine learning model training and inference workloads (NVIDIA on Bare Metal).
- Telecom & 5G Networks – Edge deployments and network functions demand ultra-low latency and predictable performance.
- Financial Services – High-frequency trading and other time-sensitive platforms benefit from microsecond-level predictability.
- Enterprise Databases – Systems like PostgreSQL or Cassandra achieve higher throughput and stability when running directly on bare metal.
In each of these cases, bare metal Kubernetes provides both the performance edge and the flexibility of modern orchestration.
Getting Started with metal-stack.io
For organizations interested in exploring this model, the path forward is straightforward:
- Explore the metal-stack.io documentation to understand the architecture and requirements.
- Start small with a handful of bare metal servers to build a test cluster.
- Use metal-stack’s Kubernetes integration to deploy a working cluster on these nodes.
- Benchmark workloads against equivalent cloud-based environments to validate performance gains.
- Scale gradually, adding automation and expanding infrastructure as the needs grow.
This incremental approach reduces risk and allows teams to build confidence before moving critical workloads.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Running Kubernetes on bare metal delivers unmatched performance, efficiency, and control—capabilities that virtualized and cloud-based environments cannot fully replicate. Thanks to open-source solutions like metal-stack.io, organizations no longer need to choose between raw power and operational simplicity. Bare Metal as a Service (BMaaS) extends the agility of the cloud to physical servers, enabling DevOps teams to manage Kubernetes clusters that are faster, more predictable, and fully under their control.
Ready to explore further?
- Contribute to metal-stack on GitHub
- Dive into the documentation
- Join the community and share your feedback
For high-performance computing, latency-sensitive applications, and hardware-intensive workloads, Kubernetes on bare metal is not just an alternative—it is often the best choice.
