What OpenCHAMI does

OpenCHAMI (Open Composable Heterogeneous Adaptable Management Infrastructure) is an open-source, Linux Foundation-hosted project that provides a composable toolkit of microservices for managing High Performance Computing (HPC) and AI clusters. Founded in 2023 by a consortium of leading HPC institutions (Los Alamos National Laboratory, NERSC, CSCS, HPE, and the University of Bristol), the project delivers a cloud-native, containerized architecture for automated hardware discovery (Magellan/Redfish), node provisioning (BSS/boot-service, CoreDHCP/CoreDNS via coresmd), state and inventory management (SMD, inventory-service, fru-tracker), zero-trust authentication (OPAAL, tokensmith, hydra, Smallstep step-ca), node configuration (cloud-init metadata server, image-builder), and power control, all consumed via the ochami CLI and REST APIs documented under OpenAPI 3.0. The platform reports boot times of approximately 40 seconds after POST for a 650-node cluster, compared with 8+ minutes in traditional HPC stacks, and supports deployment via Podman quadlets, Docker Compose, or Kubernetes (including a Kubernetes Operator).

The project's go-to-market is community-led open-source distribution rather than commercial sales: the software is freely licensed, hosted under the Linux Foundation's High Performance Software Foundation (HPSF), and promoted through GitHub, Slack, documentation, weekly engineering digests, monthly newsletters, and HPC conferences (ISC, PEARC, CUG, SC, NIST HPC Security Workshop). Revenue is not generated from the software itself; funding flows through consortium member contributions and institutional backing from founding partners. Target users are HPC centers, national laboratories, HPC system administrators, and cloud engineers who need API-driven, infrastructure-as-code management of heterogeneous compute (x86_64 and aarch64) across on-prem and cloud environments.

The operating footprint is currently concentrated in North America and Europe, with primary production validation at Los Alamos National Laboratory (first production deployment completed February 2025 on Dell and NVIDIA hardware). Governance is consensus-based via a Request for Discussion (RFD) process overseen by a Technical Steering Committee and a Governing Board; the project is not a commercial entity and has no traditional venture funding, acquisitions, or public-market positioning.

Name

OpenCHAMI

Legal name

OpenCHAMI a Series of LF Projects, LLC

Website

https://openchami.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Short description

OpenCHAMI is an open-source, Linux Foundation-hosted project providing a composable microservices toolkit for automating and managing HPC and AI clusters, serving national laboratories, HPC centers, and cloud/HPC sysadmins via community-led distribution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

HPC System Management Software

NAICS

Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Access Management & Policy Enforcement (Authorization, ZTNA integration) (HDAEAJAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Single Sign-On (SSO) & Federation (SAML/OIDC, Identity Providers) (HDAEAJAB)

Keywords

• HPC system management
• Cluster orchestration
• Containerized microservices
• Cloud-native infrastructure
• Open-source HPC

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Open-Source Free Distribution: OpenCHAMI is a fully open-source project distributed under open-source licenses. The software is freely available for download, use, and modification. The project is hosted under the Linux Foundation's High Performance Software Foundation (HPSF) and operates as a community-driven initiative without a commercial revenue model. Revenue is not generated from the software itself; the project is funded through consortium member contributions and institutional backing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

OpenCHAMI (Open Composable Heterogeneous Adaptable Management Infrastructure) is an open-source, containerized microservices platform for automating and managing High Performance Computing (HPC) and AI clusters. It provides automated hardware discovery via Redfish, secure node bootstrapping via cloud-init, dynamic DHCP/DNS, state/inventory management (SMD), boot configuration services (BSS, boot-service), power control, OIDC-based authentication, and a unified CLI. It is designed to bring cloud-native flexibility and zero-trust security to HPC environments spanning on-premises and cloud deployments.

Product overview

OpenCHAMI (Open Composable Heterogeneous Adaptable Management Infrastructure) is a composable toolkit of microservices for HPC and AI infrastructure management. The platform provides modular services including SMD for inventory/state management, BSS and boot-service for boot configuration, Magellan for Redfish-based BMC discovery, CoreDHCP/CoreDNS for network services, OPAAL/hydra for authentication, tokensmith for authorization, cloud-init server for node configuration, power-control for Redfish power management, and ochami CLI for user interaction. Additional services include inventory-service (SMD replacement), metadata-service, fru-tracker, coresmd, and image-builder for system image creation. The toolkit is deployed via Podman containers, Kubernetes, or Docker Compose, and is designed for heterogeneous HPC environments supporting both traditional and cloud-native workloads.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ochami CLI Unified command-line interface for interacting with OpenCHAMI services including BSS, SMD, cloud-init, and power control. Used by HPC operators and developers to manage cluster configuration, authentication tokens, and day-to-day operations.
• SMD (State Management Database) PostgreSQL-backed system inventory and state management service that tracks nodes, BMCs, networks, and hardware components. Provides APIs for managing endpoint lists and building higher-level inventory views for the cluster.
• BSS (Boot Script Service) Serves boot configurations and iPXE scripts to nodes during provisioning, consuming data from SMD to craft per-node boot scripts. PostgreSQL-backed service used to deliver iPXE boot workflows to HPC clusters.
• boot-service Fabrica-generated service that replaces BSS for serving boot configurations to nodes. Provides both native API endpoints and legacy BSS-compatible endpoints under /boot/v1 for drop-in replacement. First released December 2025.
• Magellan Redfish-based automated BMC discovery and management tool that scans networks for hosts running Redfish servers, crawls BMC Redfish structures, and populates SMD with discovered inventory data.
• OPAAL (OIDC Provider for Authentication/Authorization Login) OIDC identity service providing authentication/authorization login capabilities for the OpenCHAMI cluster, supporting zero-trust access control.
• CoreDHCP DHCP service integrated with SMD for dynamic IP address assignment based on MAC addresses stored in the inventory database.
• CoreDNS DNS service that generates DNS records based on BMC and node data stored in SMD, providing hostname resolution for cluster nodes.
• cloud-init Server OpenCHAMI's cloud-init metadata server providing post-boot node personalization. Integrates with SMD groups to deliver tiered configuration including cluster defaults, group-level, and per-node metadata.
• Fabrica Command-line code generator for creating production-ready REST APIs in Go. Generates CRUD handlers, database backends, OpenAPI 3.0 documentation, and type-safe clients using a Kubernetes-inspired resource structure (spec/status separation).
• power-control Redfish-based power management service providing APIs for power on, power off, power cycle, and power state queries through BMCs.
• metadata-service Service for managing metadata associated with hardware and boot images. Provides enhanced data management for deployments. First released May 2026.
• inventory-service Hardware inventory API service designed as a replacement for SMD. Provides Device resource management with spec/status pattern. First released May 2026.
• fru-tracker Event-driven hardware inventory tracking service using FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) data for real-time hardware state changes.
• coresmd Combined service bundling CoreDHCP and CoreDNS with SMD integration to provide network services (DHCP and DNS) for cluster provisioning.
• tokensmith Authentication and authorization service using Casbin for policy management. Provides OAuth2 tokens and JWT support for service-to-service authentication.
• image-builder Containerized system image builder that creates boot images (SquashFS), kernels, and initramfs using YAML configuration. Builds images via OCI layers for multi-architecture support.
• ipxe-binaries Pre-built iPXE boot firmware binaries for network boot, including Broadcom firmware support. First released April 2026.
• hydra OAuth2/OIDC service providing authentication capabilities, part of the OpenCHAMI authentication stack alongside OPAAL.
• step-ca (Smallstep Certificate Authority) Certificate authority from Smallstep for generating TLS certificates and managing cluster PKI to secure cluster communication.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced cluster boot time from 8+ minutes to ~40 seconds after POST for a 650-node cluster
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration15 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Linux FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025OpenCHAMI is formally integrated into the Linux Foundation, providing a neutral, globally recognized open-source home. The Linux Foundation provides governance infrastructure, legal protection, and administrative support for the project.
• High Performance Software Foundation (HPSF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025OpenCHAMI joined HPSF, a Linux Foundation initiative specifically for open-source HPC projects. HPSF activates a broader HPC developer community, provides neutral open-source governance, and reinforces commitment to collaborative innovation in HPC.
• Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Core founding consortium member that took the lead on initial software development. Demonstrated OpenCHAMI by booting a ten-node cluster at SC23. Completed first production deployment in February 2025 using Dell/NVIDIA hardware for AI workloads. Actively contributes code and maintains multiple repositories.
• NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Founding consortium member providing strategic oversight and technical direction. NERSC is a leading national HPC facility contributing to governance and development priorities.
• CSCS (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Founding consortium member from Switzerland contributing to the Technical Steering Committee and providing international perspective on HPC management needs.
• HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Founding consortium member providing technical expertise and code originally developed as part of Cray System Manager (CSM). HPE contributes microservices foundations and hardware compatibility knowledge.
• University of BristolcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Founding consortium member contributing academic research perspective and development resources to the OpenCHAMI project.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Canonical MAAS (Metal as a Service): Canonical's bare-metal provisioning platform with DHCP/PXE/iPXE, Redfish-based BMC management, and inventory services. Overlaps OpenCHAMI's boot service, CoreDHCP, and Magellan discovery capabilities from a cloud-native angle.
• Foreman: Open-source lifecycle management tool for physical and virtual servers. Provides provisioning, DNS/DHCP integration, and configuration management — overlapping OpenCHAMI's inventory, network services, and boot configuration functionality.
• Dell EMC HPC Ready Framework: Dell's integrated HPC cluster deployment framework bundling hardware, software, and management tooling. Dell is both a hardware partner in OpenCHAMI deployments and a competitor with bundled management offerings.

Direct peers

• OpenHPC: Community-driven reference software stack for HPC that includes provisioning tools and integrates with xCAT and Warewulf. OpenCHAMI's tutorial explicitly covers deploying OpenHPC on top of its platform, positioning them as complementary or competing.
• Warewulf: Open-source HPC provisioning and cluster management tool focused on stateless compute node provisioning. Competes with OpenCHAMI's boot-service, BSS, and cloud-init metadata server for lightweight HPC provisioning workflows.
• HPE Cray System Manager (CSM): HPE's Cray System Manager is the incumbent commercial HPC cluster management stack that OpenCHAMI explicitly set out to replace with a modular open-source alternative. Direct overlap on provisioning, boot, inventory, and BMC management functions.
• Rocks Cluster Distribution: Open-source HPC cluster distribution providing node provisioning, package management, and cluster configuration. Overlaps OpenCHAMI's discovery, boot, and configuration management for research computing environments.
• Bright Cluster Manager: Commercial HPC cluster management software providing provisioning, monitoring, and workload management for HPC and AI clusters. Competes with OpenCHAMI on turnkey cluster management for HPC centers and research institutions.
• xCAT (Extreme Cloud Administration Toolkit): Open-source HPC cluster provisioning and management toolkit from the OpenHPC ecosystem. Competes with OpenCHAMI in automated node discovery, OS deployment, and cluster administration for HPC environments.

Emerging players

• Clustercorp: Provider of HPC and AI cluster management solutions focused on modern, cloud-native approaches for research and enterprise HPC. Competes in the same emerging space of replacing legacy monolithic HPC managers with modular alternatives.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/openCHAMI

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OpenCHAMI