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What is a Bare Metal Server?


What is a Bare Metal Server?

Virtual Server and Cloud

In the cloud, the server is mainly provided in the form of a virtual machine (VM) implemented in a virtualization method, that is, a virtual server.

Virtualization improves the economic efficiency of resource utilization by dividing and using one hardware for various purposes, and the cloud enables flexible services by controlling these virtualized resources through the network.

Before virtual servers and clouds became common, customers who needed servers used server hosting services that rented or purchased real physical servers. However, directly purchasing and using a physical server had problems such as a high initial investment cost, time and space constraints, and a large management burden.

Virtualization and cloud are being actively introduced recently as they can solve some of the disadvantages of server hosting.

Limitations of virtual servers

In the server hosting service, a server means a complete physical server, and the customer has direct rights to the server hardware and can use it exclusively.

On the other hand, a virtual server cannot control hardware directly and goes through a middle layer called a 'hypervisor', so performance degradation is inevitable compared to using a physical server as it is.

In addition, since virtual servers usually share and use the same hardware resources, there is a possibility that virtualization servers may not perform properly due to mutual interference, and in severe cases, all services may be stopped in the event of a physical server failure.

Therefore, the introduction of virtual servers is not recommended for services that are sensitive to performance and reliability, such as databases.

What is a bare metal server?

Recently, more and more 'cloud all-in' companies are moving their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud.

However, some companies have taken a 'hybrid cloud' strategy to build on physical servers as they could not readily adopt the cloud for areas sensitive to performance or operating environment, such as databases.

If you are contemplating which method is suitable to build your IT infrastructure, either 'Cloud All-in' or 'Hybrid Cloud', you can consider a Bare Metal Server as an alternative.

The term 'bare metal' refers to the condition in which no software is installed on the original hardware. In other words, a bare metal server refers to providing a physical server as it is without a hypervisor OS for virtualization. This allows direct control over the hardware and even OS settings.

In particular, it is advantageous for high performance because there is no unnecessary performance degradation caused by virtualization. Looking at these characteristics, a bare metal service is the same as server hosting after all, but a bare metal server is different in that it can be quickly deployed and used in a cloud environment just like a cloud virtual server, rather than directly purchasing and installing a physical server.

gcloud bare metal server

 gCloud Bare Metal Server is a high-performance physical server that can be used together in an existing gCloud environment.

You can apply and use it easily from the management console, and you are charged only for what you use. If special bare metal server options are required, custom configurations are also available upon consultation. In addition, if you use gcloud bare metal server, you can link with various services of gcloud and apply for additional services together.

If you are planning a service that requires a non-virtualized environment or a service that requires high performance, use gcloud bare metal server.

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