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Version: 0.2

Getting Started

Welcome to Colony​

Colony makes it easy to manage bare metal infrastructure and deploy Kubernetes clusters on physical hardware. This guide will walk you through the complete setup process, from installation to your first cluster.

Your Journey​

Follow these steps to get up and running with Colony:

1. Review Prerequisites​

Ensure your environment meets the minimum requirements for running Colony.

  • Hardware: 8GB RAM, 4 CPUs, 64GB disk
  • Network: Layer 2 connectivity, DHCP server, internet access
  • OS: Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12
  • Packages: Docker, Git, wget, kubectl

Review Prerequisites →

2. Install the CLI​

Download and install the Colony command-line tool.

  • Download and extract binary
  • Move to /usr/local/bin
  • Verify with colony version

Install CLI →

3. Create API Key​

Get the colony init command from colony.konstruct.io.

  • Log in to Colony UI
  • Navigate to API Keys
  • Click Generate API key
  • Copy the colony init command

Create API Key →

4. Initialize Management Cluster​

Setup colony and its supporting components.

  • Add network interface and IP to the colony init command
  • Run colony init
  • Export KUBECONFIG
  • Verify pods are running

Initialize Cluster →

5. Discover Assets​

Power on your physical hardware to auto-discover on the management network.

  • Collect IPMI addresses and credentials
  • Use ipmitool to power on and PXE boot assets
  • Verify assets appear in UI with "available" status
  • Confirm network connectivity

Discover Assets →

6. Provision Workloads​

Choose your deployment path:

Option A: Provision Ubuntu Hosts

Install Ubuntu on bare metal for standalone servers.

Provision Ubuntu →

Option B: Create Kubernetes Clusters

Deploy production-ready clusters on your assets:

  • Civo Stack: Enterprise: Repurpose your existing datacenter as private cloud
  • K3s: Lightweight Kubernetes on Ubuntu
  • Talos Linux: Container Linux for Kubernetes

Create Clusters →

Support Resources​

Need help? We're here to support you:

What's Next​

Ready to begin? Start with Prerequisites →

Already familiar with Colony? Jump to: