Cloudbare

Cloudbare is a term used in cloud computing discourse to describe a model that combines cloud-style orchestration with dedicated bare-metal hardware within a cloud-like management layer. It aims to deliver the performance and isolation of physical servers while providing automation, elasticity, and programmatic control typical of cloud services.

There is no universally adopted definition; interpretations vary by vendor and community. Some describe cloudbare as access to on-demand, dedicated servers provisioned through an API, with optional virtualization or direct bare-metal access; others emphasize end-to-end management across heterogeneous hardware pools.

Key characteristics include dedicated physical hosts, low-latency access to compute and storage resources, API-driven provisioning, and strong isolation between tenants. Pricing is typically on a per-host or per-resource basis and may include short- and long-term commitments, depending on the provider.

Architectural arrangements range from minimal virtualization atop bare metal to direct bare-metal deployment with indirection via a control plane. Networking often relies on high-performance fabric, with options for SR-IOV or PCIe pass-through, while storage may be local to the host or provided via distributed storage under the same management layer.

Common use cases include latency-sensitive workloads such as databases and real-time analytics, high-performance computing, GPU-accelerated tasks, and regulated workloads requiring physical isolation and compliant data handling.

Relation to other concepts: cloudbare is related to bare-metal cloud, dedicated hosts, and traditional dedicated servers, but it emphasizes cloud-like orchestration and multi-tenant management. It can differ from standard virtualized IaaS by reducing or removing virtualization overhead.

Limitations and criticisms include higher cost than virtualized cloud, potential vendor lock-in, and operational complexity in managing heterogeneous hardware. Adoption depends on workload requirements, performance objectives, and compliance needs.