Abbreviation	Full Name	Description
BIOS	Basic Input/Output System	Legacy firmware interface for booting computers, being replaced by UEFI
BMC	Baseboard Management Controller	Out-of-band management chip enabling remote power control, console access, and hardware monitoring independent of the host OS
BMH	BareMetalHost	Metal3 Kubernetes custom resource representing a physical server and its desired state
BMO	Bare Metal Operator	Metal3 Kubernetes controller that reconciles BareMetalHost resources by communicating with Ironic
CAPI	Cluster API	Kubernetes SIG project providing declarative APIs for cluster creation, configuration, and management
CAPM3	Cluster API Provider Metal3	Metal3’s infrastructure provider enabling Cluster API to manage bare-metal clusters
DHCP	Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol	Network protocol for automatic IP configuration; required for PXE/iPXE boot
EOL	End of Life	Version no longer receiving updates or support
FIPS	Federal Information Processing Standards	US government security standards for cryptographic modules
iDRAC	Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller	Dell’s BMC implementation with Redfish support
iLO	Integrated Lights-Out	HPE’s BMC implementation with Redfish support
IPA	Ironic Python Agent	Agent running in a ramdisk that executes Ironic commands on bare-metal hosts (inspection, deployment, cleaning)
IPAM	IP Address Manager	Metal3 controller managing static IP allocations for cluster nodes
IPMI	Intelligent Platform Management Interface	Legacy protocol for remote hardware management; less secure than Redfish
iRMC	Integrated Remote Management Controller	Fujitsu’s BMC implementation (deprecated in Metal3)
IrSO	Ironic Standalone Operator	Metal3 Kubernetes operator that deploys and manages Ironic
MAC	Media Access Control	Unique hardware address identifying a network interface
NIC	Network Interface Card	Hardware providing network connectivity
PXE	Preboot Execution Environment	Intel standard for network booting via DHCP and TFTP
RAID	Redundant Array of Independent Disks	Technology combining multiple disks for performance or redundancy
SRIOV	Single Root I/O Virtualization	PCIe standard allowing a device to appear as multiple virtual devices
TFTP	Trivial File Transfer Protocol	Simple protocol for transferring boot files; used by PXE
TLS	Transport Layer Security	Cryptographic protocol securing network communications
UEFI	Unified Extensible Firmware Interface	Modern firmware interface replacing BIOS; supports Secure Boot
UUID	Universally Unique Identifier	128-bit identifier for uniquely identifying resources
VBMC	Virtual BMC	Tool emulating IPMI BMC for virtual machines

Term	Description
Automated Cleaning	Ironic feature that wipes disk metadata before/after provisioning
BareMetalHost (BMH)	Metal3 custom resource representing a physical server and its desired state
Bare Metal Operator (BMO)	Metal3 controller reconciling BareMetalHost resources via Ironic
Bifrost	OpenStack tool for standalone Ironic deployment
Bootstrap Cluster	Temporary cluster used to provision a target management cluster
cloud-init	Industry-standard tool for cloud instance initialization and configuration
Cluster API (CAPI)	Kubernetes SIG project for declarative cluster lifecycle management
Cluster API Provider Metal3 (CAPM3)	Metal3’s infrastructure provider for Cluster API
clusterctl	CLI tool for Cluster API cluster lifecycle management
Custom Resource (CR/CRD)	Kubernetes API extension for domain-specific objects; CRD defines the schema
Deprovisioning	Process of removing an OS image and cleaning a host
dnsmasq	Lightweight DNS/DHCP/TFTP server used for network boot
Failure Domain	Topology grouping of hosts sharing common failure characteristics
Finalizer	Kubernetes mechanism preventing resource deletion until cleanup completes
Firmware Settings	BIOS/UEFI configuration options manageable through Metal3
Glean	Alternative to cloud-init for instance configuration
Hardware Inventory	Discovered hardware details (CPU, RAM, disks, NICs) of a host
Hardware RAID	RAID implemented by dedicated hardware controller
Host Inspection	Process of discovering and recording hardware details of a bare-metal host
Ignition	Configuration system used by Fedora CoreOS and similar distributions
Infrastructure Provider	Cluster API component implementing cloud/platform-specific functionality
IP Address Manager (IPAM)	Metal3 controller managing static IP allocations for cluster nodes
IPAddress	IPAM resource representing an allocated IP address
IPClaim	IPAM resource representing a request for an IP address
IPPool	IPAM resource defining a pool of IP addresses for allocation
iPXE	Open-source network boot firmware extending PXE with HTTP support and scripting
Ironic	OpenStack project for bare-metal provisioning, used by Metal3
Ironic Python Agent (IPA)	Agent in ramdisk executing Ironic commands on bare-metal hosts
Ironic Standalone Operator (IrSO)	Metal3 operator deploying and managing Ironic
ISO	Disc image format (ISO 9660) used for virtual media boot
Keepalived	Service providing virtual IP address failover
KubeadmControlPlane (KCP)	Cluster API resource managing Kubernetes control plane nodes
Kustomize	Kubernetes configuration customization tool
Live ISO	Bootable ISO image that runs entirely in memory without disk installation
Machine	Cluster API resource representing a single Kubernetes node
MachineDeployment	Cluster API resource for declarative worker node management
MachineSet	Cluster API resource maintaining a set of Machines
Management Cluster	Kubernetes cluster running Metal3/CAPI controllers
Metal3Cluster	CAPM3 custom resource representing cluster infrastructure
Metal3Machine	CAPM3 custom resource linking a Machine to a BareMetalHost
Metal3MachineTemplate	CAPM3 template for creating Metal3Machine resources
Network Boot	Booting a machine over the network using PXE/iPXE
Network Data	Configuration describing network settings for a provisioned host
Node Reuse	Feature allowing reuse of same hosts during rolling upgrades
Pivoting	Moving cluster management from bootstrap to target cluster
Preparing	Host state where RAID/firmware configuration is applied
Provisioning	Process of deploying an OS image to a bare-metal host
Provisioning Network	Isolated L2 network for Metal3 to bare-metal communication
Ramdisk	Minimal Linux image loaded into RAM for provisioning operations
Redfish	Modern RESTful API standard for hardware management, replacing IPMI
Remediation	Automated recovery of unhealthy cluster nodes
Root Device Hints	Criteria for selecting which disk to use as the root device
Software RAID	RAID implemented by the Linux kernel using mdadm
Sushy-tools	BMC emulator implementing Redfish protocol for virtual machines
Target Cluster	Destination cluster in a pivoting operation
User Data	Configuration script/data processed by cloud-init or similar
Virtual Media	Boot method using virtual CD/DVD over BMC (no provisioning network needed)
Workload Cluster	Kubernetes cluster running user applications