◦ Setup in under 1 hour
◦ User-friendly API
Bare Metal → Automation
What is bare metal automation?
Managing physical servers at scale is complex, time-consuming, and prone to human error. Bare metal automation streamlines this process by enabling rapid provisioning, configuration, and management of dedicated servers without manual intervention. Whether you need to deploy multiple servers, maintain consistency across infrastructure, or reduce operational overhead, automation unlocks efficiency and scalability.
Organizations that rely on high-performance, dedicated infrastructure benefit from automated provisioning and management, making bare metal automation a crucial tool in modern IT operations.
Bare metal server hosting
Dedicated resources, high reliability, and optimal efficiency for workloads that demand performance and control
What is bare metal automation?
Bare metal automation is the process of automating the deployment, configuration, and management of physical servers. Unlike virtualized environments, where provisioning can be done with a few clicks, bare metal servers require more hands-on setup. Automation tools bridge this gap by enabling users to install operating systems, configure network settings, deploy applications, and manage server lifecycles programmatically.
Bare metal automation typically relies on tools like PXE boot, Redfish, or IPMI for provisioning, while configuration management systems like Ansible, Puppet, and Chef ensure consistent deployments. These tools help businesses eliminate manual intervention, reduce provisioning time, and minimize errors.
Whether operating in a private data center or leveraging colocation services, automating bare metal servers ensures seamless and repeatable deployments.
Benefits of bare metal automation
- Speed and efficiency: Automating server provisioning drastically reduces deployment times, allowing businesses to scale faster. Traditional provisioning can take hours or days, while automation can configure a server in minutes.
- Consistency: Automation ensures that every server is configured identically, minimizing configuration drift and potential security risks. With predefined scripts and templates, IT teams can standardize their infrastructure and reduce variability.
- Reduced operational costs: Less manual intervention means fewer IT resources spent on repetitive tasks. By automating common workflows, businesses can reallocate resources to higher-value tasks and reduce labor costs.
- Improved reliability: Automated processes reduce human errors that can cause downtime or performance issues. Automated monitoring and self-healing mechanisms help ensure that servers remain operational with minimal intervention.
- Scalability: Managing hundreds or thousands of physical servers becomes feasible with automation tools. Organizations with large infrastructures, such as cloud providers and enterprise data centers, can efficiently scale their operations without increasing IT overhead.
- Streamlined decommissioning: Automated workflows can handle secure data wiping, hardware testing, and updating inventory records, streamlining the reuse or retirement of hardware and ensuring compliance with data protection policies.
Use cases
Bare metal automation is particularly useful for organizations managing high-performance workloads that demand dedicated resources.
Large-scale cloud providers use automation to streamline server deployments and minimize operational overhead. Enterprises running big data applications, AI training, or high-performance computing (HPC) benefit from automated server provisioning and configuration. Additionally, companies offering Bare Metal as a Service (BMaaS) leverage automation to provide customers with on-demand physical servers.
Enterprise IT and data centers
Enterprises with private data centers use automation to deploy workloads efficiently and ensure compliance with internal policies. Automation helps reduce downtime, improve resource utilization, and enhance security across an organization’s infrastructure.
High-performance computing (HPC)
HPC workloads in scientific research, financial modeling, and AI training require dedicated infrastructure. Automating server provisioning and configuration enables rapid scaling, resource optimization, and reduced setup times.
Edge computing
Edge computing environments require deploying and managing servers across multiple locations. Automation ensures consistent configurations, seamless updates, and efficient troubleshooting for distributed infrastructure.
DevOps and CI/CD pipelines
Automation plays a key role in DevOps practices by enabling infrastructure as code (IaC). Bare metal servers can be provisioned and integrated into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring repeatable and version-controlled deployments.
How to add automation to a bare metal server
Automating bare metal servers requires the right combination of tools and techniques. By leveraging provisioning tools, configuration management systems, and API-driven solutions, organizations can streamline deployments and improve operational efficiency.
Below are key methods for adding automation to a bare metal server.
- Provisioning tools: Tools like PXE boot, Redfish, and IPMI automate OS installation and initial configuration. These tools allow administrators to remotely install operating systems and set up servers with minimal physical intervention.
- Configuration management: Platforms like Ansible, Puppet, and Chef help standardize and maintain server configurations. These tools allow organizations to define infrastructure as code, ensuring consistency and repeatability.
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Using Terraform or similar tools, organizations can define server configurations as code for repeatable deployments. IaC enables version-controlled, automated provisioning, reducing human error.
- API-driven management: Many data center providers offer APIs that allow users to automate provisioning and lifecycle management. These APIs integrate with existing automation workflows, enabling seamless control over infrastructure.
- Automated monitoring and self-healing: Tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and Kubernetes can monitor server health and trigger automated responses, reducing downtime and improving reliability.
Bare metal automation FAQs
What is bare metal provisioning?
Bare metal provisioning is the process of preparing a physical server for use, which includes installing an operating system, configuring network settings, and applying necessary security policies. Traditionally, this required manual setup, but with automation, organizations can deploy servers quickly and consistently at scale.
Provisioning typically involves a combination of PXE boot, Redfish, or IPMI to automate OS installation. Configuration management tools then apply predefined settings, ensuring uniform deployments. Automated provisioning allows businesses to scale infrastructure effortlessly while reducing operational complexity.
What is bare metal as a service?
Bare Metal as a Service (BMaaS) is a cloud-like offering where users can rent physical servers on-demand without managing the underlying infrastructure. Unlike traditional dedicated hosting, BMaaS provides automated provisioning, flexible billing, and API-driven management, making it ideal for businesses needing high-performance computing without the burden of physical server maintenance.
BMaaS is particularly beneficial for companies requiring dedicated hardware performance but seeking cloud-like flexibility. Customers can provision, scale, and decommission servers as needed without long-term commitments, making BMaaS an attractive option for dynamic workloads and compute-intensive applications.
Getting started with bare metal servers
Bare metal automation is a game-changer for businesses that need high-performance, scalable, and reliable infrastructure. Whether you’re an enterprise IT team or a company with high-performance computing needs, automating bare metal servers allows you to deploy and manage infrastructure at scale with ease.
To get started with bare metal server hosting, evaluate your infrastructure needs and choose a reliable provider that offers automation-friendly solutions.
That’s where Liquid Web comes in. We’ve been offering the industry’s best dedicated server hardware, hosting options, and support for decades. Our server hosting solutions now include a variety of bare metal server configurations.
Click below to explore options or start a chat with one of our expert support team professionals right now.
Additional resources
What is bare metal? →
A complete beginner’s guide to help you understand what it is, how it works, basic terminology, and much more
What is bare metal restore? →
Benefits, challenges, use cases, and more
Bare metal cloud →
What it means, pros and cons, how it works, and a lot more
Jake Wright has been immersed in computers for a majority of his career and is still fascinated in learning new technology. He’s provided support in many IT related fields, including: end user support, networking, hardware, server and system administration, web hosting and training (just to name a few). He greatly enjoys outdoor activities with family and friends when he is not at the keyboard.