Canonical MAAS
8.1#1 in bare metal provisioning softwareFrom $30 a yearFree planWebAPILinuxSelf-hosted
VisitCanonical MAAS vs xCAT
What both publish
| Fact | Canonical MAAS | xCAT |
|---|---|---|
| API | MAAS exposes a REST API with GET, POST, PUT and DELETE methods; version 2.0 is the documented supported API version. | xCAT provides a REST API for integration with third-party software. |
| Hardware discovery | PXE boot can automatically discover and enlist servers, while network discovery identifies subnets, VLANs and switch fabrics. | Discovery methods include manual definition, MTMS-based, switch-based, and sequential discovery. |
| Integrations | Canonical documentation names Juju, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Terraform, OpenStack and Kubernetes as MAAS automation or orchestration integrations. | The documentation lists OpenStack and SoftLayer cloud integration and mentions configuring HPC applications including GPFS, Parallel Environment, and LSF. |
| Purpose | MAAS is an open source platform for centrally managing and provisioning physical servers as cloud resources. | xCAT automates deployment, scaling, and management of bare metal servers and virtual machines. |
Canonical MAAS plans
- FreeFree
- Self-supportFree
- Essential$30 a year
- Standard$50 a year
- Advanced$100 a year
xCAT plans
- xCATFree
Pick Canonical MAAS if…
MAAS suits teams managing physical servers for private cloud with OpenStack, server automation, or bare metal Kubernetes. Its single-machine installation is also described for homelabs, proofs of concept, and small production environments.
Pick xCAT if…
xCAT may suit administrators managing clusters, datacenters, or other large groups of physical or virtual machines, particularly where parallel operations and operating-system provisioning are needed.