OpenShift has support for bare metal deployments with either User provided infrastructure (UPI), or Installer-provided infrastructure (IPI).
The following is a summary of key differences:
-
UPI bare metal
- Provisioning hosts is an external requirement
- Requires extra DNS configuration
- Requires setup of load balancers
- Offers more control and choice over infrastructure
-
IPI bare metal
- Has built-in hardware provisioning components, will provision nodes with RHCOS automatically, and supports the Machine API for ongoing management of these hosts.
- Automates internal DNS requirements
- Automates setup of self-hosted load balancers
- Supports “openshift-install create cluster” for bare metal environments using this infrastructure automation, but requires the use of compatible hardware, as described in install_ipi.md.