Cozystack Bundles: Overview and Comparison
Introduction
Bundles are pre-defined combinations of Cozystack components. Each bundle is tested, versioned, and guaranteed to work as a unit. They simplify installation, reduce the risk of misconfiguration, and make it easier to choose the right set of features for your deployment.
This guide is for infrastructure engineers, DevOps teams, and platform architects planning to deploy Cozystack in different environments. It explains how Cozystack bundles help tailor the installation to specific needs—whether you’re building a fully featured platform-as-a-service or just need a minimal Kubernetes cluster.
Bundles Overview
| Component | paas-full | iaas-full* | paas-hosted | distro-full | distro-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cozystack Dashboard | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cozystack API | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Managed Applications | ✔ | ❌ | ✔ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Virtual Machines | ✔ | ✔ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Managed Kubernetes | ✔ | ✔ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Kubernetes Operators | ✔ | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ (optional) | ✔ (optional) |
| Monitoring subsystem | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ (optional) | ✔ (optional) |
| Storage subsystem | LINSTOR | LINSTOR | ❌ | LINSTOR | ❌ |
| Networking subsystem | Kube-OVN + Cilium | Kube-OVN + Cilium | ❌ | Cilium | ❌ |
| Virtualization subsystem | KubeVirt | KubeVirt | ❌ | KubeVirt (optional) | KubeVirt (optional) |
| OS and Kubernetes subsystem | Talos Linux | Talos Linux | ❌ | Talos Linux | ❌ |
* Bundle iaas-full is currently on the roadmap, see
cozystack/cozystack#730.
Cozystack Composition
To understand Cozystack bundles, it’s helpful to view all Cozystack components organized by layers.
- Layer 4: User-Facing Services: Managed Kubernetes, Databases-as-a-Service, and other managed applications.
- Layer 3: Platform Services: Operators, Cluster API and Dashboard, and Monitoring.
- Layer 2: Infrastructure Services: Storage (using LINSTOR, by default), Networking (using OVN), and Virtualization (using KubeVirt).
- Layer 1: OS and Hardware: The foundation, typically Talos Linux and a root Kubernetes cluster installed on Talos.
Choosing the Right Bundle
Bundles combine components from different layers to match particular needs. Some are designed for full platform scenarios, others for cloud-hosted workloads or Kubernetes distributions.
paas-full
paas-full is a full-featured PaaS and IaaS bundle.
It includes all four layers and provides the full set of Cozystack components.
Some higher-layer components are optional and can be excluded during installation.
paas-full is intended for installation on bare metal servers.
Read more:
- Bundle configuration reference.
- Bundle source: paas-full.yaml.
iaas-full
This planned bundle offers a complete infrastructure-as-a-service setup. It provides all Cozystack components except for Kubernetes operators and preset managed applications.
Bundle iaas-full is yet to be implemented in Cozystack.
See
cozystack/cozystack#730.
paas-hosted
Cozystack can be installed as platform-as-a-service (PaaS) on top of an existing managed Kubernetes cluster,
typically provisioned from a cloud provider.
Bundle paas-hosted is made for this use case.
It includes layers 3 and 4, providing Cozystack API and UI, managed applications, VMs, and tenant Kubernetes clusters.
Read more:
- Bundle configuration reference.
- Bundle source: paas-hosted.yaml.
distro-full
Cozystack can be used as a pure Kubernetes distribution for installing on bare metal.
Bundle distro-full includes everything needed to make a ready-to-work Kubernetes cluster:
Talos as the operating system, a Kubernetes distribution, plus ready-to-use networking, virtualization, and storage subsystems.
As optional components, it also provides monitoring and a set of Kubernetes operators.
Read more:
- Bundle configuration reference.
- Bundle source: distro-full.yaml.
distro-hosted
This minimal Cozystack bundle adds extra functionality on top of a hosted Kubernetes cluster. It includes three optional components:
Virtualization subsystem (as KubeVirt).
Monitoring subsystem.
Kubernetes operators.
Bundle configuration reference.
Bundle source: distro-hosted.yaml.
Learn More
To see the full list of components and configuration options for each bundle, refer to the bundle reference documentation.
To deploy a selected bundle, follow the Cozystack quickstart guide or platform installation documentation.