MAAS is powerful for what it was designed for: bare-metal lifecycle management and provisioning of servers. But when a tool is this flexible, it’s tempting to push it into spaces it wasn’t built to handle. This page lists common anti-patterns and misuses of MAAS, with guidance on what to do instead.
Think of MAAS as a scalpel, not a Swiss Army knife: precise and effective for the right jobs, but not the right tool for every situation.
1. Wrong scope of problem
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Personal PXE playground
MAAS can boot and install machines, but if you only want to boot a single box over PXE once in a while, a simplednsmasq+tftpsetup will be easier. -
Cloud control plane replacement
MAAS provisions hardware. It doesn’t replace OpenStack, Kubernetes, or your virtualization platform. Think of MAAS as the bottom layer you can build those systems on.
2. Networking anti-patterns
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Production DNS for your whole company
MAAS can run DNS, but it’s meant for lab- or cluster-level service discovery. Don’t point your entire enterprise at it. Use a dedicated DNS infrastructure. -
DHCP across the corporate LAN
MAAS DHCP works best on VLANs it controls. Pointing it at your entire office network will usually end in conflict and chaos. -
Firewall or NAT manager
MAAS does not manage firewalls, NAT, or VPNs. Use a network security tool designed for those tasks.
3. Machine lifecycle misconceptions
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Ongoing desktop or laptop management
MAAS is not designed to provision or manage desktops at scale. It doesn’t replace enterprise desktop imaging, endpoint management, or mobile device management (MDM) systems. -
Application patching and updates
Once a machine is deployed, MAAS steps back. It won’t update application software, apply patches, or manage configuration drift. Tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Landscape are designed for that role. -
Continuous config management
Don’t expect MAAS to act like Ansible or Puppet. Its job is to deliver a working machine, not to continuously configure or repair it. -
24/7 monitoring
MAAS checks machine state for provisioning purposes. It’s not Nagios, Zabbix, or Prometheus.
4. Image and operating system misuse
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General-purpose image factory
MAAS streams and mirrors Ubuntu images, but it’s not your patch server or enterprise image pipeline. If you need hardened or custom images, build them withpacker,curtin, or cloud-init tools. -
Unsupported distributions
Fedora, CentOS, and Windows don’t “just work.” MAAS supports Ubuntu (and some specific integrations). Anything else requires effort outside normal workflows.
5. Scale mismatches
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Recursive “cloud-in-cloud” experiments
Running MAAS inside MAAS inside LXD inside Multipass might work as a demo, but it’s not stable for real workloads. -
Internet-scale hosting
MAAS can manage thousands of machines, but it’s not designed to operate like AWS or Azure across multiple regions.
6. Security pitfalls
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Using MAAS as an auth provider
MAAS has basic roles. It’s not meant to replace LDAP, SSO, or IAM. -
Exposing the API/GUI to the internet
MAAS is designed for trusted cluster admins. Putting it directly on the public internet without protection is risky.
What to do instead
If you find yourself trying to bend MAAS into one of these roles, stop and ask:
- Is there a simpler tool for the job (e.g.,
dnsmasq,tftp, MDM, Ansible)? - Am I trying to turn MAAS into something it was never designed to be?
- Can I layer the right tool on top of MAAS instead of expecting MAAS to handle everything?
Summary
MAAS is an excellent tool for what it’s built to do: discover bare-metal servers, commission them, and hand them off ready for use. It is not a desktop imaging tool, a patch management service, a corporate DNS/DHCP backbone, or a monitoring system.
Stay inside its design boundaries and MAAS will serve you well. Try to use it for everything, and you’ll quickly discover its limits.