Canonical MAAS vs OpenStack Ironic
Canonical MAAS
canonical.comOpenStack Ironic
docs.openstack.orgSide by side
| Figure | Canonical MAAS | OpenStack Ironic |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2.50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · OS Deployment Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.3 (#19) |
| Spec score · Bare Metal as a Service (BMaaS) Software | 9.4 (#1) | 7.3 (#9) |
| Integrations | Canonical documentation names Juju, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Terraform, OpenStack and Kubernetes as MAAS automation or orchestration integrations. | The documentation lists integrations with OpenStack Identity (Keystone), Compute (Nova), Network (Neutron), Image (Glance), and Object (Swift). |
| License | The MAAS source repository is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3. | The OpenStack project is provided under the Apache 2.0 license. |
| Purpose | MAAS is an open source platform for centrally managing and provisioning physical servers as cloud resources. | Ironic provisions bare-metal machines and can run independently or as part of an OpenStack cloud. |
Plans
Canonical MAAS
- FreeFree
- Self-supportFree
- Essential$30 a year
- Essential$30 a year
- Standard$50 a year
- Standard$50 a year
- Advanced$100 a year
- Advanced$100 a year
In their own words
Canonical MAAS
Canonical MAAS is an open source platform for provisioning physical servers as centrally managed cloud resources. It automates server discovery, inventory, commissioning, deployment, and decommissioning, and lets operators manage nodes through a web interface, command line, or API. Hardware discovery uses PXE boot and supports IPMI-enabled machines, as well as subnets, VLANs, and switch fabrics. MAAS integrates with Terraform, Juju, and Ansible for infrastructure automation. It can configure networking and storage, run hardware tests, and manage LXD and KVM virtual machines. Listed images include Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows, and RHEL; images can be synchronized or served from an onsite mirror for offline use. Canonical describes MAAS for private cloud with OpenStack, server automation, and bare-metal Kubernetes. A free self-support plan covers all machines but excludes HA support, RBAC, Knowledge Base, a Sev 1 response SLA, phone support, and ticket support. Paid plans start at $30 a year per managed machine. Ubuntu Pro is required for MAAS controllers; Canonical says it provides security patching and enterprise support for controllers and Ubuntu machines.
OpenStack Ironic
OpenStack Ironic has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.