Dedicated Server vs Virtualization: Making the Right Choice

During the recent years, the dominance of bare metal servers was overthrown by virtualization and vice versa. Both solutions are still considered effective, but how to decide which is better for your business: dedicated server or virtualization?
Dedicated Server vs Virtualization: Making the Right Choice

During the recent years, the dominance of bare metal servers was overthrown by virtualization and vice versa. Both solutions are still considered effective, but how to decide which is better for your business: dedicated server or virtualization?

Bare metal server it is a network where a machine and hardware instead of OS are combined. Virtualization is a type of web hosting when a virtual machine is installed on the operating system. Both help to develop the infrastructure of business, but are not equally helpful for your enterprise.

Server Virtualization

First and foremost, it is important to note that virtualization and cloud are different things. In case of server virtualization, one bare metal server is divided into Virtual Private Servers with the help of special software.

Today, the most common types of virtualization are KVM and OpenVZ. The first one is more flexible, because it works with various operating systems including Windows, Linux and custom OS, while OpenVZ hosts only Linux. OpenVZ uses a layer of virtualization over the Linux OX, and it shared kernel cannot be customized. Resources of the server (disk space, CPU power, RAM) are free for all users.

KVM seems to be a better option, allowing setting minimum and maximum values of the resources – you will always get necessary amount. This is a real hardware virtualization that ensures better performance and has lower requirements. In this case, you may be sure that all resources of the disk will belong to you only. With KVM server, you are supplied with private virtualized hardware (disk, network card, graphic adapter, etc.). That makes up for higher reliability and customization. VPS packages may be good for resellers, online games and small or medium-scale enterprises.

Dedicated Servers

Bare metal server mans that the infrastructure is built on raw hardware. This is a physical server dedicated to a single user. If you need better customization, bare metal will be a good option. Dedicated hosting is used by large-scale enterprises, for big MMORPGs and e-commerce sites. Although this option is more expensive, it provides a lot of great features:

1. Hardware customization and flexibility.

2. Absence of neighbors that may affect server performance or get resources.

3. Higher processing power.

4. Better privacy and security.

5. Normal load distribution and redundancy.

Both virtualization and dedicated server solutions can be good for your business, but you should make the final decision basing on your needs and budget.

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