ai-cloud
EKS on Bare Metal Experience with vCluster
Offer an EKS-like experience on your own hardware. vMetal provisions servers, and vCluster supplies separate Kubernetes tenant clusters with dedicated Private Nodes.
Trusted by the fastest-growing AI cloud providers
Problem
Why Bare Metal Kubernetes Falls Short
Building an EKS-like experience on bare metal exposes three hard infrastructure gaps.
Raw Compute Is Not Enough
Customers want cloud-native tooling and self-service environments, not raw GPUs. Selling bare metal alone is a race to the bottom.
DIY Requires Time and Investment
Building a GPU cloud platform in-house requires significant engineering investment and delays time-to-market.
Isolation Without a Managed Layer
Namespace isolation is too weak. Separate physical clusters per tenant are too expensive. EKS on bare metal demands a better middle path.
Solution
An EKS Like Experience on Your Infrastructure
vCluster provides an EKS-like Kubernetes service experience on your infrastructure, separately from Amazon EKS. vMetal provisions machines, Private Nodes dedicate tenant workers, and templates provide a self-service path. vCluster Labs software powers 100K+ GPUs.
Tenant Kubernetes on Your Bare Metal
From bare metal GPU provisioning to tenant isolation and self-service portals, vCluster covers the full stack.
Bare Metal Layer
Zero-Touch GPU Server Provisioning
vMetal exposes one Machine API above bare metal and VM provisioning drivers. Registered inventory, images and credentials enable repeatable machine lifecycle workflows for self-service bare metal Kubernetes. Network automation uses supported integrations such as Netris.
- Stable Machine API
- Bare metal and VM provisioning
- Driver-specific lifecycle automation
Control Plane Binary
Lightweight K8s Directly on Bare Metal
vCluster Standalone runs Kubernetes as a CNCF-certified binary on Linux, without an existing Kubernetes cluster. It supplies a Kubernetes foundation for self-service bare metal Kubernetes; vMetal separately orchestrates machine and OS provisioning.
- CNCF-certified Kubernetes binary
- Runs directly on Linux
- No existing Kubernetes cluster required
Tenant Isolation
Lightweight Tenant Kubernetes Control Planes
Each tenant has an independent Kubernetes API, data store and RBAC boundary. Lightweight control-plane hosting reduces dedicated server requirements for self-service bare metal Kubernetes; Private Nodes keep production workers tenant-specific.
- Independent tenant API and data store
- Tenant-scoped scheduling on Private Nodes
- No dedicated control-plane servers per tenant
Cloud Experience
EKS-Like Self-Service for Tenants
Deliver the cloud experience your customers expect. Tenants provision and manage their own Kubernetes environments through a self-service portal that mirrors the EKS and GKE experience.
- Approved templates and access policies
- Dedicated production tenant workers
- Readiness depends on available capacity
Dynamic Scaling
Auto-Provision GPU Nodes on Demand
Karpenter-based Auto Nodes requests worker capacity according to configured policies. With the vMetal provider, Machine requests provision available infrastructure for self-service bare metal Kubernetes; inventory, driver readiness and release rules determine actual capacity.
- Karpenter-based node management
- Supported infrastructure provider integration
- Inventory-aware capacity policies
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+
GPUs 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
Can vCluster replace EKS for workloads running on bare metal?
vCluster provides an EKS-like Kubernetes service experience on infrastructure you operate, but it is a separate platform from Amazon EKS. vMetal orchestrates machine provisioning and Private Nodes dedicate workers to each tenant cluster. Standard Kubernetes APIs support familiar tooling; AWS-specific identity, networking and storage integrations require their own migration plan rather than carrying over automatically.
How long does it take to launch a managed Kubernetes service on bare metal?
Boost Run went from decision to production launch in under 45 days for its managed Kubernetes service. That is a customer example rather than a promised implementation time. Your launch depends on machine inventory, driver configuration, networking, storage, templates and service integrations. vMetal and vCluster connect machine orchestration with tenant cluster delivery, reducing the infrastructure workflows you need to build yourself.
What isolation model supports an EKS-like service on bare metal?
Private Nodes are worker nodes joined to one tenant cluster, with that tenant's own CNI and storage configuration. They can be physical machines or supported VMs. Use dedicated bare metal when the service requires exclusive physical servers. vMetal can provision the underlying machines, while platform policies define which capacity a tenant may request and how it is released.
Does vCluster support GPU workloads and AI platforms on bare metal?
NVIDIA Run:AI is available through the native Certified Stacks integration, with release-specific prerequisites and templates. Its bundled templates do not automatically supply dedicated Private Nodes. Configure and validate the production worker model, GPU access, networking and storage before offering it to customers. Ray and Jupyter can use compatible Kubernetes deployment tooling and require their own supported configuration.
How does vCluster separate tenants in its bare metal Kubernetes service?
vCluster gives each tenant an independent Kubernetes API, data store and RBAC scope. Private Nodes dedicate worker capacity to that tenant, including its own CNI and storage configuration. vMetal orchestrates the machines underneath. This separates tenant administration and worker placement; shared infrastructure, application permissions and network policies still require an explicit security design.
Is vCluster open source and how is it deployed?
The vCluster core is open source under Apache 2.0. vCluster Platform provides additional management and infrastructure capabilities through free and paid offerings. Private Nodes are available in Platform Free, so they should not be described as a paid-only isolation feature. Check the current feature matrix for the release and plan you deploy, including air-gapped, FIPS and advanced operational requirements.
Build Self Service Kubernetes on Bare Metal
See how GPU cloud providers go from bare metal to a managed Kubernetes service with vCluster.
