// Module included in the following assemblies:
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// * installing/installing_bare_metal/scaling-a-user-provisioned-cluster-with-the-bare-metal-operator.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT

[id="about-scaling-a-user-provisioned-cluster-with-the-bare-metal-operator_{context}"]
= About scaling a user-provisioned cluster with the Bare Metal Operator

You can scale user-provisioned infrastructure clusters by using the Bare Metal Operator (BMO) and other metal^3^ components. User-provisioned infrastructure installations do not feature the Machine API Operator. The Machine API Operator typically manages the lifecycle of bare-metal nodes in a cluster. However, it is possible to use the BMO and other metal^3^ components to scale nodes in user-provisioned clusters without requiring the Machine API Operator.