OpenStack Ironic manages physical machines through discovery, cataloging, enrollment, provisioning, maintenance and decommissioning. Its REST API gives operators a vendor-agnostic interface for managing machines across those stages. Hardware support includes generic Redfish and IPMI types, as well as vendor-specific types. Operators can inspect hardware and run extensible preparation actions before workloads are assigned. Ironic supports hardware ownership and leasing across separate pools. It can also integrate with OpenStack Networking to isolate workload networks. Its modular design is described for environments with tens, hundreds or thousands of machines. Bifrost, Metal3 and OpenStack Compute are deployment options or related projects. Ironic is free, open source under the Apache 2 license, and offers API access. It runs on Linux and in self-hosted deployments. Operators can configure TLS for outbound image downloads and Redfish BMC connections. The security guide recommends disabling IPMI when modern out-of-band management is available. Bifrost setup requires knowing the bare-metal network interface and having hardware controller credentials.
Who it is for
Ironic suits operators managing fleets of physical machines who need lifecycle controls through an API, hardware ownership and leasing, or image-based provisioning. It is also relevant to teams deploying with Bifrost, Metal3 or OpenStack Compute and able to configure bare-metal networking and hardware controller access.
What is good
- Free and open source under the Apache 2 license
- REST API uses a vendor-agnostic interface
- Supports Redfish, IPMI and vendor-specific hardware types
- Hardware ownership and leasing across separate pools
- Described for deployments from tens to thousands of machines
What to know first
- Bifrost setup requires network interface knowledge and controller credentials
- Security guidance recommends disabling IPMI when modern out-of-band management is available
Verdict
Choose OpenStack Ironic to manage bare-metal machines through their lifecycle with API access, hardware pool ownership and image provisioning. Bifrost deployment requires familiarity with bare-metal networking and controller credentials, and its security guide recommends disabling IPMI when modern out-of-band management is available.
Get started with OpenStack Ironic
- Open the Ironic project website
- Choose a deployment option such as Bifrost, Metal3 or OpenStack Compute
- For Bifrost, identify the bare-metal communication network interface
- Prepare hardware management controller credentials
- Deploy on a supported Bifrost host operating system: CentOS Stream 10, Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12 or Debian 13
Questions about OpenStack Ironic
How much does OpenStack Ironic cost?
The listed Open source Ironic plan is 0.00 USD per free. It is open source under the Apache 2 license.
Which platforms does Ironic support?
Its listed platforms are API, Linux and self-hosted. The deployment type is dedicated, and provisioning uses images.
Does Ironic support multi-tenant management?
Yes. It supports hardware ownership and leasing across non-overlapping hardware pools, with optional OpenStack Networking integration for workload network isolation.
Which hardware management protocols does it support?
Generic hardware types include Redfish and IPMI, alongside vendor-specific types. The security guide recommends disabling IPMI when modern out-of-band management is available.
What are the Bifrost host operating system requirements?
Bifrost lists CentOS Stream 10, Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12 and Debian 13 as fully supported host operating systems.
Who maintains OpenStack Ironic?
The project is supported by the OpenInfra Foundation and maintained collaboratively by vendors and contributors.
OpenStack Ironic plans and pricing
All plansCompared on bare metal provisioning software
- API access
- Yes
