On-premises installation prerequisites

Before you install Poolside on-premises, complete the following steps in order. Review the STIG guidance in Step 1 only if it applies to your host.

Step 1: Verify host requirements

Ensure that the host meets the following requirements:

A supported operating system:
- Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.6
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 16
A supported host CPU architecture:
- amd64 (x86_64)
- arm64 (aarch64)
Storage capacity and partitions planned before you install the operating system, because partitions are difficult to change afterward. See Storage requirements for current guidance.
sudo access on the host

Some prerequisite tools provide architecture-specific Linux binaries. Use amd64 downloads for x86_64 hosts and arm64 downloads for aarch64 hosts. To check the host architecture, run:

uname -m

STIG-hardened hosts

If you deploy on a STIG-hardened host, two decisions happen before or during operating system installation: FIPS-validated cryptography and the filesystem partition scheme. For both, see STIG hardening considerations.

Step 2: Gather installation materials

Ensure that the following materials are available on the host:

The Poolside installation bundle for your host CPU architecture
Poolside model checkpoint files for your deployment

Model checkpoint files are provided separately based on your deployment. You upload them during the model upload step of the installation.

Step 3: Choose a network mode

The network mode changes how the host obtains NVIDIA GPU drivers and Terraform providers.

Network mode	Description
Internet-connected	The host can reach external package repositories and the Terraform registry.
Air-gapped	The host has no external network access. The bundle supplies Terraform providers from a local cache. Complete the air-gapped GPU driver preparation for your operating system.

Step 4: Choose certificates and hostnames

Decide the following values before you install:

The ingress hostnames you plan to expose for model inference
Whether you use installer-generated self-signed certificates or your own TLS certificates

If you use custom TLS certificates, prepare CA and server certificate files whose Subject Alternative Names (SANs) cover every hostname you expose, including each model ingress hostname, seaweedfs.poolside.local, and seaweedfs-s3.poolside.local.

Step 5: Choose a GPU driver path

The NVIDIA GPU Operator checks whether a driver is already installed on the host and prefers a preinstalled driver. Find your operating system, then start at the top of its table and use the first row that applies.

Ubuntu

Host conditions	Driver installation path
The host requires Secure Boot	Preinstall the validated NVIDIA driver because the driver compiled by the GPU Operator is not compatible with Secure Boot. See Preinstall the NVIDIA driver on Ubuntu.
The host can reach external Ubuntu package repositories and Secure Boot is disabled	Start with no host NVIDIA driver. The GPU Operator installs the driver by using the Ubuntu package repositories. See Use external Ubuntu package repositories.
The host cannot reach external repositories, can reach an internal APT mirror, and Secure Boot is disabled	Configure the GPU Operator driver container to use the mirror. See Use an internal APT mirror.
The host is air-gapped without an accessible mirror, Secure Boot is disabled, and the APT cache is complete for the running kernel	The GPU Operator can install the driver by using the cached packages. See Use the host APT cache.
None of the preceding conditions apply	Preinstall the validated NVIDIA driver. This is the simplest path for a disconnected installation. See Preinstall the NVIDIA driver on Ubuntu.

RHEL

Host conditions	Driver installation path
The host requires Secure Boot	Preinstall the validated NVIDIA driver because the driver compiled by the GPU Operator is not compatible with Secure Boot. See Preinstall the NVIDIA driver on RHEL.
The host is air-gapped and Secure Boot is disabled	Preinstall the validated NVIDIA driver. This is the simplest path for a disconnected installation. See Preinstall the NVIDIA driver on RHEL.
The host is internet-connected and Secure Boot is disabled	Start with no host NVIDIA driver. The GPU Operator installs the driver by using the RHEL package repositories. See Let the GPU Operator install the driver.

SLES

Preinstall the NVIDIA driver in either network mode. The GPU Operator does not install the driver on SLES. See Install the NVIDIA driver on SLES.

Step 6: Prepare your operating system

Complete the prerequisites page for your operating system:

Next steps

Install on-premises

​Step 1: Verify host requirements

​STIG-hardened hosts

​Step 2: Gather installation materials

​Step 3: Choose a network mode

​Step 4: Choose certificates and hostnames

​Step 5: Choose a GPU driver path

​Ubuntu

​RHEL

​SLES

​Step 6: Prepare your operating system

​Next steps

​Related resources