Bare metal

Clore Bare Metal — Requirements and Guide

Clore Bare Metal are physical (non-virtualized) servers with full root access, no sharing, and no power limits. Suitable for AI/ML, HPC, 3D rendering, and any heavy workloads.

Available GPUs (examples): B200, H100, H200, A100, L40S, RTX 5090, RTX 4090, etc. Locations (start): USA, Japan, Hong Kong, and others SLA: Tier 3 and above data centers, target uptime 99.99%.

1) What is Bare Metal on Clore

  • You get a whole physical machine (CPU, RAM, disks, network, GPU).

  • Full root access/SSH and, when available, IPMI/KVM for OS reinstallation.

  • No PL limits / isolating layers — performance matches the hardware.

  • Differs from container-based rentals (HiveOS/Docker) in that resources are not shared.

2) Mandatory infrastructure requirements (for providers)

2.1 Data center

  • Minimum Tier 3 (Uptime Institute or a recognized local equivalent).

  • Documents: DC letter/certificate, redundancy description (power N+1/2N, cooling, network).

  • SLA 99.99% with a 24/7 NOC.

  • Compliance with fire safety standards; availability of emergency procedures (RPO/RTO).

  • Legal entities only. Home/office “server rooms” are not accepted.

2.2 Hardware base (minimum)

  • CPU: from 64 threads.

  • RAM: from 128 GB (256 GB+ recommended for multi-GPU/HPC).

  • Storage: NVMe SSD ≥ 1 TB, throughput ≥ 1 GB/s (RAID1/10 recommended for system and data).

  • Network: ≥ 1 Gbps symmetric (10 Gbps preferred, L2/L3 redundancy, static IPv4; IPv6 is a plus).

  • GPU (tier): L40S / H200 and above or equivalents resilient to heavy workload: B200, H100, H200, A100, L40S, RTX 4090/5090 (server A-series and data-center cards preferred).

2.3 High-performance interconnects (preferred)

  • InfiniBand (EDR/HDR/NDR) for distributed training/HPC.

  • NVLink/NVSwitch — desirable for multi-GPU within a node.

2.4 Reliability and replacement

  • In case of hardware failure — one-for-one replacement (identical or strictly equivalent configuration) with no SLA degradation.

  • Mandatory stock of spare parts / “hot” spares.

2.5 Security and data hygiene

  • Disk sterilization between rentals: blkdiscard/secure erase/1-pass zero/TRIM (logging).

  • IPMI isolation, closed mgmt perimeter, ACL/DDoS profile.

  • OS images — vetted, with up-to-date microcodes/patches, support for NVIDIA drivers.

3) Minimum commercial terms

  • Minimum rental term: from 1 month.

  • Pricing: price lists competitive by geolocation (accounting for traffic/electricity/VAT costs).

  • API integration is mandatory/desired (depending on volume) for auto-provisioning, extensions, and monitoring.

4) Software and image requirements

  • OS: Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 LTS, Rocky/RHEL 9; on request — Windows Server (with licensing).

  • GPU stack: NVIDIA 550.xx+ (or those recommended for specific GPUs), CUDA 12.2/12.4+.

  • Management: SSH (required), IPMI/KVM (preferred) with temporary accounts for the renter.

  • Containerization: Docker/Podman on request; Kubernetes — allowed if a master is provisioned within the same DC.

5) How a provider can connect to Bare Metal

  1. Application & verification:

    • Legal entity, official contract with a Tier 3+ DC, SLA 99.99%, 24/7 NOC.

    • Document package: Tier/equivalent certificate, SLA, fire safety, redundancy scheme.

    • Acceptance tests: public IPv4, screenshot/access to IPMI (KVM), iPerf3/disk performance results.

  2. SKU catalog & pricing:

    • Standardized cards (GPU composition, CPU threads, RAM, NVMe, network, IB/NVLink, DC/location, traffic limits).

    • Prices tied to geography. Minimum term — 2 weeks.

  3. Operational policies:

    • Incident response time: ≤ 15 min; hardware replacement: equivalent immediately.

    • Logging of disk sterilization, closure of admin access after return, audit.

    • Monthly reports on uptime/incidents.

6) Network and throughput requirements

  • Minimum 1 Gbps (symmetric), preferably 10 Gbps with redundancy.

  • Public IPv4, rDNS support on request; IPv6 is desirable.

  • Basic ACLs, anti-DDoS profile, dedicated mgmt-VLAN for IPMI.

  • For InfiniBand — direct L2 segmentation within the rack/room and OFED availability.

7) Example workloads

  • Multi-GPU LLM training: 8×L40S/NVLink or an IB cluster of A100/H100/H200 nodes.

  • Video rendering: 4×RTX 4090/5090 with local NVMe cache and 10 Gbps egress.

  • HFT/trading: low latencies, CPU 64–128 threads, RAM 256–512 GB, NVMe RAID1 and 10 Gbps network.

  • Genomics/HPC: A100/H100 with IB HDR/NDR, SLURM / MPI support.

Comparison of Standard Rental and Bare Metal

Parameter
Standard rental (HiveOS/Docker)
Bare Metal

What it is

Container/environment inside the host OS

Entire physical server

Resources (CPU/RAM/bandwidth)

Shared by scheduler; cgroup quotas, possible throttling

Exclusive; predictable CPU/RAM/bandwidth

Root/privileges

root inside container, no BIOS access

Full server root; BIOS/UEFI access

GPU drivers (CUDA/NVIDIA)

Version defined by the host

You install required versions (CUDA/OFED, etc.)

GPU control

Passthrough with restrictions (PL/OC per host policy)

Full PL/OC control; NVLink/NVSwitch (if present)

IPMI/KVM/Virtual Media

No

Yes (remote console, ISO mounting)

Storage

Host volumes/mounts; bandwidth may fluctuate

Direct NVMe/RAID; stable IOPS/throughput

Network

Ports/NAT/shared bandwidth

Dedicated NIC 1–10G+; rDNS, VLAN; public IPv4

Reliability / SLA

Depends on host; no guaranteed like-for-like swap

DC Tier 3+, target SLA 99.99%, mandatory like-for-like replacement

Minimum term

Usually hours/days

From 2 weeks

Cost

Lower

Higher (exclusive + data center)

Time to start

Seconds–minutes

from 1h up to 48h to start

HPC / InfiniBand

Usually no

Recommended (InfiniBand), NVLink/NVSwitch

Best for

Quick tasks, tests, mining, short sessions

AI/ML/HPC, production workloads, long projects

Requirements for provider

Basic

Legal entity, DC Tier 3+, 24/7 NOC, regional pricing, API

Security / data

Within host policies

Disk sanitization between rentals, isolated mgmt (IPMI)

FAQ

How is Bare Metal different from container rental? Bare Metal is entirely your physical machine (CPU/RAM/Disk/Net/GPU). In container rental, resources are shared and you work in an isolated environment.

Is IPMI required? Preferred. It speeds up OS reinstallation and provides KVM access, especially for network/SSH issues.

Can nodes be interconnected over IB? Yes, InfiniBand is encouraged for distributed training/HPC. Specify the IB bandwidth/type in the SKU.

What’s the minimum for GPUs? L40S / H200 level and above, or an equivalent resilient to heavy workloads (B200, H100, A100, etc.).

What if the server “goes down”? The provider must promptly deliver an identical replacement with no degradation (SLA 99.99%).

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