Stakater Simplifies and Scales Cloud-Native Solutions with OpenMetal’s Hosted Bare Metal

Stakater, a provider of cloud-native solutions specializing in Kubernetes and OpenShift, sought greater control and cost-efficiency for their infrastructure. Faced with rising public cloud costs and limited control over their environment, they turned to OpenMetal’s bare metal solutions. By leveraging OpenMetal’s platform, Stakater achieved:

  • Significant cost savings compared to public cloud providers.
  • Enhanced control and autonomy over their infrastructure.
  • Streamlined operations with OpenShift on OpenShift, managed through Kubernetes-native tools.

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About Stakater

Stakater, a leading provider of cloud-native solutions, enables businesses to fully utilize the power of Kubernetes and OpenShift. Their expertise in designing, deploying, and managing scalable infrastructure helps organizations navigate the complexities of modern cloud technologies. With a commitment to automation and reliability, Stakater enables businesses to innovate and scale with confidence.

From their offices in Stockholm, Prague, and Islamabad, Stakater works with a diverse range of organizations seeking robust and scalable cloud-native solutions. Their customer base includes large enterprises in sectors like banking, finance, and retail who require high-performance Kubernetes and OpenShift platforms to manage complex workloads. They also serve independent software vendors (ISVs) needing to validate and certify their software on these platforms, and startups and mid-sized companies across various industries looking for simplified Kubernetes solutions to accelerate development. Additionally, Stakater partners with service providers and consulting firms to deliver white-label Kubernetes and OpenShift solutions, and supports educational and research institutions with cost-effective options for learning and experimentation.

The Challenge: Seeking Control and Cost-Efficiency

Stakater’s journey with OpenMetal began with a need for greater control and cost-efficiency in their cloud infrastructure. Relying primarily on public cloud offerings, they faced challenges with escalating costs and limited control over their environment. The acquisition of their primary European OpenStack provider further emphasized the need for a change.

“Cloud resource costs were a big factor for most customers,” explains Stakater. “We wanted more control and autonomy on the infrastructure side and were considering self-hosting our own OpenStack.”

The Solution: OpenMetal’s Bare Metal and OpenStack Expertise

Stakater’s search for an OpenStack-based cloud provider led them to OpenMetal. They were drawn to the platform’s cost autonomy, control, and the potential for seamless integration with their OpenShift-focused solutions.

“The beauty of the signup and trial flow was the main attention grabber,” says Stakater. “We were on the market for private cloud hosting to start building our own cloud offering, and various internet searches kept pointing to OpenMetal as a solid choice.”

Initially, Stakater used OpenMetal’s OpenStack-based offering to build their OpenShift-as-a-Service solution. However, with the release of Red Hat’s Hypershift and the availability of OpenMetal’s Bare Metal as a Service, Stakater saw an opportunity to further optimize their infrastructure.

“The ability to switch to bare metal and bring our vision of OpenShift on OpenShift became a reality,” Stakater explains. “We approached OpenMetal, and they were incredibly supportive in helping us onboard with bare metal servers.”

This transition allowed Stakater to eliminate the need for an additional hypervisor layer, manage their entire stack with Kubernetes-native tools, and achieve significant cost savings.

Stakater’s Infrastructure Includes:

Production:
Six XL v3 Servers

Each server comes with:
Two Intel Xeon Gold 6430 Processors with
64C/128T 2.1/3.4Ghz
Four 6.4TB NVMe Drives
960GB Boot Disk
1024GB DDR5 4400MHz RAM
20Gbps Private Bandwidth
2Gbps Public Bandwidth

Testing & Development:
Three Large v2 Servers

Each server comes with:
Two Intel Xeon Silver 4314 Processors with
32C/64T 2.4/3.4Ghz
Two 3.2TB NVMe Drives
480GB Boot Disk
512GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM
20Gbps Private Bandwidth
1Gbps Public Bandwidth

Technical Highlights

Stakater’s technical implementation on OpenMetal’s platform showcases a deep understanding of cloud-native principles and a commitment to leveraging open-source technologies. Their architecture centers around a “Kubernetes-native” approach, maximizing efficiency and automation.

Key aspects of Stakater’s implementation:

  • Bare Metal Deployment: Stakater utilizes OpenMetal’s bare metal servers, eliminating the overhead of a traditional hypervisor layer and allowing for direct control over hardware resources. This approach optimizes performance and reduces costs.
  • OpenShift on OpenShift: Stakater uses Red Hat’s Hypershift technology to deploy OpenShift clusters on bare metal, creating a nested “OpenShift on OpenShift” environment. This enables them to efficiently manage and scale their OpenShift as a Service offering.
  • IPMI Provisioning: Stakater utilizes IPMI for initial bare metal server provisioning, enabling remote booting from ISO images and kickstarting their automated infrastructure setup.
  • GitOps Management: Stakater embraces GitOps principles, managing their entire infrastructure and application stack through Git repositories. This ensures version control, reproducibility, and automated deployments.
  • Kubernetes-Native Tooling: Stakater utilizes Kubernetes-native tools and APIs for managing their infrastructure, streamlining operations and leveraging their team’s expertise in Kubernetes.

This technical approach allows Stakater to deliver a highly efficient, scalable, and cost-effective OpenShift platform to their customers. By embracing bare metal, OpenShift on OpenShift, and GitOps, they have created a truly cloud-native solution optimized for performance and automation.

“The OpenMetal team has been incredibly supportive throughout our journey, from our initial transition to OpenStack to our current bare metal deployment. We are particularly impressed with their commitment to customer success and enthusiasm collaborating on customized solutions.”

Stakater’s Team

The Results: Enhanced Efficiency, Scalability, and Cost Savings

By partnering with OpenMetal, Stakater achieved:

  • Enhanced Control and Autonomy: OpenMetal’s bare metal platform provides Stakater with complete control over their infrastructure environment, enabling them to customize and optimize it to their specific needs.
  • Improved Cost-Efficiency: Stakater estimates their managed OpenShift as a Service offering is approximately 30% cheaper than comparable solutions on Azure.
  • Streamlined Operations: With OpenShift on OpenShift, Stakater has simplified their infrastructure management, leveraging their Kubernetes expertise to operate their entire stack.
  • Scalability and Future Growth: OpenMetal’s platform provides the scalability Stakater needs to support their growing customer base and expand their offerings into new regions.

Their team has also been able to launch an exciting new offering: Stakater Cloud – fully managed OpenShift as a service powered by OpenMetal’s bare metal platform. By building on cost-effective infrastructure, they’re able to offer this full-stack application platform powered by OpenShift at a competitive price point, 40% lower than market rates!

Stakater’s success with OpenMetal highlights the power of combining cloud-native technologies with a flexible and cost-effective infrastructure. Their innovative approach to delivering OpenShift solutions, coupled with OpenMetal’s bare metal capabilities, sets a new standard for efficiency and scalability in the cloud.

Looking Ahead

Stakater plans to expand their cloud footprint with OpenMetal to accommodate their growing customer base and explore new markets.

“More customers mean more servers,” they state. “We are also excited to expand our offering into the US and potentially other regions as OpenMetal grows.”

With their sights set on continued growth and innovation, Stakater is actively expanding their team to further improve their solutions and support their increasing customer base.

Stakater’s partnership with OpenMetal showcases the power of combining cutting-edge cloud-native technologies with a robust and supportive infrastructure platform. Their success story demonstrates how OpenMetal empowers businesses to simplify their cloud journey, optimize costs, and achieve sustainable growth.

Does This Resonate With Your Business Needs?

Contact our cloud team to find out how OpenMetal can optimize your infrastructure costs and become your partner in success.

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