Physical server

As explained in Google Anthos in Action

A physical server is a dedicated computer whose hardware directly provides computing resources for running operating systems and applications.

A physical server, or bare-metal server, provides computing resources directly from dedicated hardware rather than abstracting them through a hypervisor. In Anthos on bare metal, ready-to-use servers and a supported operating system must be supplied before cluster deployment. section 17.0 section 15.1.1

Bare-metal deployment increases infrastructure responsibility. Teams must provision nodes, estimate capacity, automate operating-system prerequisites, maintain security-approved golden images, and manage storage devices for durable cluster workloads. section 5.4

Choose physical servers with these deployment implications in mind:

• Plan spare capacity for upgrades when zero downtime is required, because a node failure during an upgrade can reduce available capacity. section 5.4
• Automate provisioning with a vetted operating-system image; PXE boot can install newly provisioned servers into the required configuration. section 5.4
• Compare standalone, multicluster, and hybrid layouts, recognizing that each requires a different operational model. section 5.4
• Evaluate density before standardizing: reported bare-metal utilization is typically 5%–15%, compared with up to 30% for virtual machines, while containers can raise density further. section 15.1.1

Anthos on bare metal

A team can deploy Anthos on physical servers, virtual machines, or supported virtual machines running on Hyper-V or KVM. The model therefore means supplying and preparing the node environment, not necessarily using physical hardware exclusively. section 17.0

Figure 5.15 Standalone deployment

Use the standalone deployment diagram to inspect how administrative and user workloads share nodes in one bare-metal cluster. section 5.4

How Google Anthos in Action covers it

How deep it goes

Explains provisioning, capacity, operating-system preparation, storage, deployment models, and density, but defers detailed networking and installation procedures.

Examples

Uses Anthos clusters, PXE-booted nodes, golden operating-system images, and standalone, multicluster, or hybrid deployments.

What it assumes

Assumes supported servers and operating systems are available, while teaching the provisioning and compatibility work required before Anthos installation.

What you can do after

Operate bare-metal cluster infrastructure by preparing nodes, estimating capacity, automating prerequisites, and selecting a deployment topology.

How it connects

Connects physical servers with virtualization, virtual machines, containers, Kubernetes, Anthos, storage, and capacity planning.

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Related concepts

• Anthos on bare metalused by · Anthos on bare metal is an Anthos deployment option that runs Kubernetes and Anthos components directly on physical servers or supported virtual machines without requiring a specific hypervisor.
• servicealternative to · A service is a software or computing capability that provides defined functionality to users or other components through an interaction boundary.
• virtual machinecontrasts with · A virtual machine is a software-based environment that emulates or implements an abstract computer system, providing an interface on which an operating system or programs can execute.
• containerused by · A software container is an isolated execution environment that packages an application and its dependencies while sharing the host operating system kernel.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Google Anthos in Action. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.