Syself and Hivelocity Announce Alpha Release of Cluster API Provider: Bringing Kubernetes Automation to Bare Metal

This achievement stems from a strategic partnership that began in December 2022, aimed at transforming enterprise-grade Kubernetes automation for high-performance bare metal infrastructure. With this release, businesses can now deploy and scale Kubernetes clusters with the same ease as managed cloud services—leveraging Cluster API as an interface that enables full software-driven cluster management, providing the flexibility to build upon and integrate into both dedicated hardware and virtualized environments.

Cluster API: A Native Kubernetes Approach to Cluster Management

Cluster API (CAPI) is an upstream Kubernetes project designed to automate the lifecycle of Kubernetes clusters using Kubernetes-native APIs and controllers. Unlike traditional infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools, Cluster API runs continuously, ensuring that clusters remain in their desired state even after initial deployment. This model offers a more dynamic and resilient approach to cluster operations.

Key advantages of Cluster API include

• Continuous Reconciliation: If a node fails or drifts from its intended state, Cluster API automatically corrects it.
• Declarative Infrastructure: Just like Kubernetes workloads, clusters are defined as Kubernetes objects, allowing full automation.
• Multi-Cloud & Bare Metal Support: Cluster API enables standardized cluster provisioning across different environments.

How Cluster API Differs from Terraform

Many teams use Terraform to provision Kubernetes clusters, but Terraform is not designed for dynamic, distributed environments that require continuous maintenance and testing. While Terraform is a great one-time provisioning tool, it lacks ongoing reconciliation and does not natively support Kubernetes-specific operational challenges. This means:

• Terraform only runs when triggered: It provisions infrastructure and exits, requiring manual intervention for updates or recovery.
• Cluster API is a continuously running system: It actively manages cluster health, scaling, and state reconciliation, ensuring clusters remain stable across updates.
• Terraform lacks Kubernetes-native awareness: Cluster API integrates directly with Kubernetes, using controllers to manage resources in real time, while Terraform requires additional tools to handle Kubernetes-specific permissions and policies.
• Testing and reproducibility challenges: Terraform does not provide a built-in mechanism for testing Kubernetes cluster updates. Given that Kubernetes releases new versions every few months, maintaining and updating clusters without breaking dependencies is a critical challenge. Cluster API, being a software-based approach, makes clusters fully reproducible and easier to test before rolling out updates.
• Software-based distribution model: Unlike Terraform, which relies on state files and manual execution, Cluster API is a software-driven system that can be easily distributed, updated, and integrated into CI/CD pipelines without requiring manual execution steps.

For organizations managing distributed Kubernetes clusters, Cluster API eliminates the risk of infrastructure drift, simplifies cluster maintenance, and reduces the operational burden on DevOps teams. Its native integration into Kubernetes ensures that clusters are always in their desired state, making it a more robust choice for production environments.

Why Hivelocity?

Hivelocity has been at the forefront of bare metal hosting for over 20 years, offering low-latency, high-performance infrastructure with global reach. Unlike traditional cloud providers, Hivelocity delivers dedicated hardware with full customization options, making it an ideal choice for Kubernetes users who require:

• Raw Performance: No hypervisor overhead, ensuring maximum compute efficiency.
• Full Customization: Choose the exact hardware specifications required.
• Cost Efficiency: Predictable pricing, without the hidden costs of cloud services.

Key Benefits for Kubernetes Users

• Automated Cluster Lifecycle – Provision, scale, and upgrade Kubernetes clusters on bare metal infrastructure effortlessly.
• Cloud-Like Flexibility – Get the performance of dedicated hardware while retaining cloud-native automation.
• Seamless Kubernetes Integration – Leverage Cluster API’s declarative model for consistent, repeatable cluster deployments.
• Open-Source & Community-Driven – Syself remains committed to an open, extensible, and community-first approach.

A Shared Vision for Kubernetes Automation

“

Our mission is to remove the operational burden from Kubernetes teams. Hivelocity’s infrastructure is built for high-performance workloads, and with Cluster API integration, we’re making it possible to run Kubernetes on bare metal without the complexity. This is about giving users more power, more control, and more automation.

Sven Batista Steinbach

CEO at Syself

What’s Next?

The alpha release of the Cluster API Provider for Hivelocity is just the beginning. Syself and Hivelocity are actively working on additional features, including:

• Enhanced networking integrations
• Multi-region support
• Advanced lifecycle automation

Organizations interested in deploying Kubernetes on bare metal with full automation and flexibility can explore the project on GitHub or reach out to Syself for further insights.

About Syself

Syself is dedicated to simplifying Kubernetes management through automation, reliability, and best practices. With a strong focus on security and developer experience, Syself empowers businesses to focus on innovation instead of infrastructure complexity.

About Hivelocity

Hivelocity has been a leader in bare metal hosting for over two decades, delivering high-performance dedicated servers with a global network of low-latency data centers. Their commitment to speed, reliability, and expert support makes them a preferred choice for businesses that demand