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Bare vs Stack Provisioning

Published · Last updated: May 2026 · 1 min read

Overview

When provisioning a server, you must choose its baseline configuration. CloudAIPilot offers two main approaches: Bare OS and Pre-configured Stacks.

Bare Provisioning

A "Bare" server installs only the operating system (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04 LTS), security updates, and the CloudAIPilot Post-Quantum Agent.

When to use:

  • You plan to use the server strictly as a background worker queue.
  • You have custom Ansible scripts you plan to run manually.
  • You want the absolute minimum memory footprint.

Stack Provisioning

A "Stack" automatically installs the necessary dependencies for specific workloads before the server is marked "Running".

Available Stacks:

  • Nginx / PHP / MySQL: Perfect for legacy CMS applications, WordPress, or Laravel.
  • Docker Engine: The recommended stack for modern Node.js, Python, or Go applications. Installs Docker CE and Docker Compose.
  • Postgres Dedicated: Tunes the Linux kernel specifically for database memory management (adjusts swappiness and shmmax).

Why use Stacks? The AI Pilot knows exactly how to monitor Stacks. If you use the Docker stack, the platform's Monitoring module will automatically ingest container-level CPU metrics without further configuration.

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