Sovereign cloud isn't just about where your data lives. It's about owning every layer of the stack, from the silicon up. In this deep dive, we show how a composition of open-source Kubernetes operators delivers self-determined storage on bare metal you control.

We start at the physical layer with IronCore's metal-operator, which discovers and provisions bare-metal servers via their BMCs. From there, the IronCore Cluster API provider brings the machines into a Kubernetes cluster. On top of that, the Rook operator deploys and reconciles a Ceph cluster, turning raw metal into durable, highly available block, file, and object storage.

Along the way we unpack the practical realities of running this stack: how the operators compose, where the seams are, and what it takes to go from a powered-off server to a healthy Ceph cluster with no humans in the loop. Attendees will come away with a concrete blueprint for building sovereign storage infrastructure entirely from open-source operators, and a clear picture of the trade-offs, pitfalls, and operational lessons learned along the way.