Lightweight private cloud for GPU operators
Run Saturn Cloud on OpenNebula
OpenNebula manages the bare metal layer of your GPU cloud: hosts, networks, storage, virtualization, and the tenancy model that holds it all together. Saturn Cloud installs on top of clusters provisioned over OpenNebula and gives your customers self-service AI workspaces, jobs, deployments, and per-tenant invoicing.
Why OpenNebula + Saturn Cloud
A pragmatic private cloud, with the platform layer customers want
OpenNebula is the lightweight option for managing bare metal, VMs, and storage at scale. It is a much smaller and faster-to-deploy stack than the alternatives. Saturn Cloud is the tenant platform on top: the portal customers log into and the invoices they receive.
OpenNebula handles the metal
Hosts, networking, storage, and the host-to-tenant (VDC) model are OpenNebula's job. The team behind it has been doing private cloud for over a decade and the deployment story is one of the lightest in this category.
Allocation billing against VDC membership
Saturn Cloud snapshots OpenNebula's host-to-VDC mapping on a fixed cadence. Tenants are billed for the hosts they hold over time, whether the hosts run Kubernetes, bare Linux, or sit idle.
Bring your cluster manager
Pair OpenNebula with SUSE Rancher or Mirantis k0rdent for Kubernetes cluster lifecycle. Saturn Cloud installs into the resulting clusters via Helm. The stack stays modular.
Tenant-facing AI platform
Self-service signup, JupyterLab, VS Code, jobs, deployments, SSO, and per-tenant billing. Saturn Cloud is what customers see and where their teams run their work.
How it works
The OpenNebula + Saturn Cloud stack
OpenNebula owns the metal and the tenancy model
Servers are added to OpenNebula's inventory, partitioned into Virtual Data Centers (VDCs), and allocated to tenants. OpenNebula handles power-on, imaging, and network configuration. The VDC mapping is the source of truth for who holds what.
Rancher or k0rdent provisions Kubernetes for tenants who want it
If a tenant asks for a Kubernetes cluster, Rancher or k0rdent provisions one on the hosts inside their VDC. Tenants who want bare metal or Slurm without Kubernetes get the hosts directly.
Saturn Cloud is the layer tenants actually log into
Saturn Cloud installs into the clusters that get provisioned. Tenants get JupyterLab, VS Code, jobs, deployments, and SSO. Their internal admins get per-user and per-project showback inside their view.
Allocation-based billing against OpenNebula
Saturn Cloud reads the OpenNebula API to capture the current host-to-VDC mapping on a fixed cadence and retains the history as billing data. Standalone hosts, K8s-attached hosts, and storage all bill the same way.
What changes when you add Saturn Cloud
OpenNebula gives you the cloud. Saturn Cloud gives you the customer.
| OpenNebula alone (plus Rancher or k0rdent) | OpenNebula + Saturn Cloud |
|---|---|
| Bare metal and VMs managed, K8s clusters running | All of that, plus a tenant-facing portal |
| Per-VDC views inside OpenNebula | Per-tenant views in Saturn Cloud sliced for the operator and the tenant |
| No AI workspace experience for tenants | JupyterLab, VS Code, jobs, and deployments out of the box |
| No tenant signup or self-service flow | Signup, payment, and first workspace running in minutes |
| No tenant billing layer | Allocation-based invoices against OpenNebula's VDC ledger |
| Operator emails tenants their cluster credentials | Tenants self-serve from the portal |