OpenKubes
Platform v1.0.3 — Generally Available
The Unified Platform for Kubernetes, Virtual Machines & Specialized Workloads
Run Everything. Deliver Anything.
KubeVirtCluster APICrossplane Bare MetalSelf-ServiceAI / GPU
github.com/openkubes/openkubes
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The Problem with Bare Metal Kubernetes

⏱️

Days to provision

Manual steps, scripts, tribal knowledge. Cluster setup takes days and is error-prone.

🔒

No self-service

Teams wait for ops to provision infrastructure. No API, no automation, no guardrails.

🧩

VMs and K8s silos

Virtual machines and Kubernetes clusters managed separately with different tools.

🔥

Cleanup is painful

Stuck finalizers, orphaned VMs, leftover namespaces. Manual cleanup takes hours.

↓

✅ OpenKubes: kubectl apply → cluster ready in 90 seconds

Full cluster lifecycle as a Kubernetes API. Just make deploy cluster=ok1.

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How It Works

1

make deploy

OpenKubesCluster claim submitted

→
2

Crossplane

Composition creates deploy Job

→
3

CAPI + CAPK

Cluster API provisions VMs

→
4

3 VMs boot

1 CP + 2 Workers on bare metal

→
5

Cluster Ready ✅

Calico, MetalLB, kubeconfig

→
6

Headlamp UI ✅

make manager-deploy

# Deploy
make deploy cluster=ok1   → Complete in 98s ✅

# Delete
make delete cluster=ok1   → cluster 'ok1' deleted ✅
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Platform Architecture

🧠 Management Zone

  • Crossplane v2.2
  • Cluster API v1.12
  • CAPK v0.11.2
  • Flux (GitOps)
  • cert-manager

⚙️ Infrastructure Zone

  • RKE2 Bare Metal
  • KubeVirt v1.8.1
  • CDI (disk mgmt)
  • MetalLB
  • local-path storage

☸️ Workload Zone

  • K8s v1.34 clusters
  • Calico CNI
  • VM Pools
  • AI / GPU workloads
  • DBaaS (roadmap)

🛡️ Platform APIs

  • OpenKubesVM
  • OpenKubesCluster
  • OpenKubesAI (soon)
  • OpenKubesDB (soon)
  • OpenKubesTenant (soon)
Management Cluster: 3× kubeadm VMs (ok1-vm / ok2-vm / ok3-vm) on RKE2 Infra Cluster
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Live Demo

From zero to running cluster in under 2 minutes
platform/cluster-management/
❯ make vm-create vm=ok4
[vm-create] creating VM 'ok4' via Crossplane...
ok4-vm  Running  True ✓  (88s)

❯ make deploy cluster=ok1
[deploy] applying claim for cluster 'ok1'...
deploy-ok1  Complete 1/1  98s ✓

❯ make recreate cluster=ok1 kubernetes-version=v1.34.1
[recreate] cluster 'ok1' recreated ✅

❯ make manager-deploy cluster=ok1
[manager] installing Headlamp on cluster 'ok1'...
[manager] Headlamp installed ✅ → localhost:8080
✅

1 CP + 2 Workers Ready

Kubernetes v1.34.1

✅

MetalLB LoadBalancer

Dedicated IP per cluster

✅

Calico CNI installed

Automatically, zero manual steps

✅

Namespace isolation

cluster name = namespace, no hash

✅

Clean delete in 26s

VMs, namespaces, secrets all gone

✅

Headlamp UI in 60s

make manager-deploy → browser ready

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What's Next

v1.0.3 — Now ✅

Foundation

  • OpenKubesCluster API
  • OpenKubesVM API
  • Crossplane Go-Template Compositions
  • make deploy / delete / recreate
  • make vm-create / vm-ssh / vm-list
  • Auto Calico + MetalLB
  • Cluster upgrade via recreate
v2.0 — Future

Native Operator

  • Go operator
  • No Crossplane dependency
  • OpenKubesAI — GPU Workspace
  • OpenKubesDB — DBaaS API
  • OpenKubesTenant — Multi-tenancy
  • OperatorHub publication
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OpenKubes Anywhere

One Platform. Any Environment.

🏭 On-Premises

  • Bare Metal (Metal3)
  • KubeVirt VMs
  • Air-gapped
  • Sovereign Cloud
  • make deploy cluster=factory-a

☁️ Public Cloud

  • AWS EKS
  • Azure AKS
  • Google GKE
  • Same API
  • make deploy cluster=prod-aws

🤖 Industrial Edge

  • Factory Sites
  • k3s Edge Clusters
  • Open-RMF / ROS2
  • AI / GPU Nodes
  • make deploy cluster=site-b

🔧 Unified Ops

  • Same make interface
  • Same GitOps workflow
  • Same Platform APIs
  • Same Day 2 ops
  • OpenKubesCluster XRD
OpenKubes Anywhere — Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Platform Operations (OK-24)
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The Immortal Platform

Infrastructure that can disappear and come back on its own.
Git is the contract.
Kubernetes is the enforcer.

🏭 Metal3 path

  • Bare metal node fails
  • BMC/Redfish detects
  • PXE → OS → CAPI
  • Target RTO < 10 min
  • No human intervention

☁️ Shadow MGMT path

  • Primary MGMT fails
  • Cloud shadow takes over
  • ArgoCD reconciles all
  • Target RTO < 60 sec
  • Workloads uninterrupted

🗺️ Roadmap

  • OK-19 OpenKubesMetal
  • OK-24 OpenKubes Anywhere
  • OK-30 Immortal Platform
  • RPO = 0 (Git)
  • Open · Sovereign · Upstream
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OpenKubes

Get Started

Open Source · Apache 2.0 · Production Ready · v1.0.3
# Create a VMmake vm-create vm=ok4
# Deploy a clustermake deploy cluster=ok1
# Open Cluster UImake manager-deploy cluster=ok1 && make manager-open cluster=ok1
⭐ github.com/openkubes/openkubes
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