What Is Bare Metal Server?

Technically referred to as a ‘single-tenant physical server’, bare metal servers have gained prominence in recent times. In simple words, a bare metal server can be described as a computer server that is built specifically for an individual client. As may be recalled, all servers were bare metal servers when these computer systems first started being used by organizations. Several decades later, cloud hosting and data centers became popular, as these provided the benefits of scalability and cost savings.

However, many organizations are now shifting to bare metal servers. There are several reasons for this, as explained below.

Dedicated resources – When you choose a bare metal server, you can be rest assured that the bandwidth and processing power will be available entirely for your needs. In comparison, if you choose cloud hosting, the available bandwidth and processing power of the server is shared between multiple tenants. Advanced computing software programs are capable of creating isolation among different tenants, but the ‘noisy neighbor’ effect can still be there. A bare metal server does not have to face such issues.

Highly customizable – When you choose a bare metal server, you can order a number of hardware customizations as per your needs. For example, you can select the type of GPU model, choose between HDD or SSD storage, and/or increase RAM as per your requirement. In comparison, cloud hosting will only allow you to make changes that can be done via software. You cannot make changes to the existing hardware when you choose cloud hosting.

Secure – Bare metal servers are a lot secure as compared to cloud hosting. That’s obviously because bare metal servers are an entirely separate piece of hardware. In comparison, cloud hosting remains vulnerable to hacking via vulnerabilities present in the hypervisor system. Even if one virtual server or virtual machine is compromised, it could allow hackers to steal data or install ransomware on the machine. That’s why enterprises that need high level of data security such as banks, healthcare providers, and government agencies are increasingly choosing bare metal servers.

Although bare metal servers are in demand, it does not mean the end of cloud hosting and data centers. These will continue to be primary platform for storage, processing and distribution of data. Bare metal servers will exist side-by-side, fulfilling the needs of organizations that have special needs as mentioned in the points above. You need to understand the benefits of both bare metal server and cloud hosting to be able to decide which one is most suitable for your specific needs and requirements.