Cloud-init & Bare-Metal Provisioning

Cloud-init (the universal first-boot)

• ★ cloud-init — the de-facto standard. Reads YAML user-data on first boot and configures users / packages / SSH keys / networks / scripts. Supported by every major cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner, DO, Vultr, etc.) and most VPS providers.
• ★ Ignition — Fedora CoreOS / Flatcar / Talos first-boot config. JSON-based, immutable-OS-flavored.
• Tinkerbell — open-source bare-metal provisioning (formerly EquinixMetal); modern PXE replacement.
• Subiquity — Ubuntu's curtin-based installer; consumes cloud-init.
• Kickstart — Fedora / RHEL classic.
• Preseed — Debian / Ubuntu classic.

What cloud-init typically does

• Set hostname.
• Add users + SSH keys.
• Install initial packages.
• Drop SSH host keys / config.
• Mount disks / format.
• Run a runcmd script for whatever cloud-init can't do directly.
• Hand control off to Ansible for ongoing config.

Bare-metal / PXE-era tools

• ★ MAAS (Canonical) — Metal-as-a-Service; web UI to discover, image, and lifecycle bare metal.
• ★ Tinkerbell — modern PXE-replacement; image bare metal via API. Used by Equinix Metal.
• Foreman — older bare-metal provisioning tool; integrates with Puppet.
• Cobbler — older Red Hat tool; still around for kickstart-driven environments.
• FAI (Fully Automatic Installation) — Debian-flavored.
• Razor — older Puppet-era.

VM / lab provisioning (local)

• ★ Vagrant — local VM provisioning; VirtualBox / Parallels / libvirt / Hyper-V backends. Fading slightly but still common.
• ★ multipass — Canonical's lightweight Ubuntu VM CLI; great for "spin up a real Ubuntu in 10 seconds."
• Lima — Linux VMs on Mac for development; the foundation under Colima.
• Colima — Docker / k8s on Mac via Lima; lightweight Docker Desktop alternative.
• OrbStack — Docker / Linux VMs on Mac; fastest, cleanest, paid for commercial use.
• Proxmox VE — for actual hypervisor labs; see Homelab.

Image baking pipelines

• See Image Building — Packer is the typical "bake the image so cloud-init only has to do the last 5%" tool.

Patterns to adopt

• ★ Bake what changes rarely; cloud-init what changes per-host. Don't put your app deploy in cloud-init — put the agent that pulls deploys.
• Test user-data locally with cloud-localds or LXD before booting cloud VMs.
• Combine cloud-init + Ansible: cloud-init bootstraps Ansible (drops SSH key, installs Python), Ansible takes over for everything else.
• Use immutable OSes (Talos, Flatcar, Bottlerocket) when you want declarative, non-drifting hosts.
• PXE chainload iPXE for fast, scriptable, modern boot environments.

Pick this if…

• Default cloud-VM bootstrap: cloud-init + Ansible takeover.
• Bare-metal fleet: MAAS or Tinkerbell.
• Immutable OS first-boot: Ignition (CoreOS / Flatcar / Talos).
• Local dev VMs: multipass (Mac), Lima / OrbStack (Mac with Docker), Vagrant (cross-platform).
• Building images instead of provisioning live: Packer.