Choosing the Right Deployment Model: Bare Metal Versus Virtual Machines

Explore the critical differences between bare metal and virtual machines

February 28, 2024

By 2026, 40% of total revenue will be generated by digital products, services, and experiences for G2000 organizations, a clear sign that organizations are continuing to invest in the modernization of their digital infrastructure with the goal of creating better business outcomes with a faster time to market. (1)

However, it’s important to understand the capabilities and limitations of your infrastructure options when considering the best deployment model for the desired transformation results.

Bare Metal: A physical server dedicated to a single client/tenant used in colocation facilities, allowing for direct access to the hardware for maximum performance and control. Ideal for high-performance computing workloads or those with high outbound bandwidth usage.

Virtual Machine: A software emulation of a physical computer that can run concurrently on a single physical server (host machine) that uses its allocation of shared host machine resources—CPU, memory, and storage—to run its own operating system and applications.

There are several factors to consider when choosing the best deployment model for your systems and applications:

Performance requirements: compute power, memory, storage, and network performance
Security considerations: industry standards, compliance requirements, system isolation, encryption model
Scalability needs: fluctuations in demand, scaling up (add resources), scaling out (add servers), costs to scale (including resources, and admin)
Resource management: monitoring and managing usage and waste for CPU, memory, storage, and network bandwidth (automated/dynamic or manual)
Workload governance: level of customizable visibility, control, and oversight for the system and data
Lifecycle sustainability: ease of updating and maintaining systems over time

Comparing Scenarios

Let’s make a feature-by-feature comparison of bare metal versus virtual machines.

Feature

Bare Metal

Virtual Machine

Tenancy

Single tenant, free of noisy neighbors

Often multi-tenant with multiple VMs on a single server

Security

Supports custom security software to protect infrastructure and data

Multi-tenant model with no control over host machine increases security risk

Performance

Dedicated hardware for ultimate performance

Shared hardware with potential resource competition from other VMs and the hypervisor

Customization

Flexible and upgradeable

Configurable, but not customizable

Scalability

Requires time to make changes

Near instant scale

Pricing

Predictable costs

Varies with resource usage

Maintenance

May be included by provider

Managed by provider

A colocation provider can help to address greater visibility, governance, and control compared to the public cloud while still delivering a cloud-like experience by providing:

Bare metal servers
Private cloud compute
Data center space (if required)
Interconnection to cloud and networking services

Choosing bare metal servers for high-performance workloads

It’s important to choose the right deployment model based on individual project requirements and the attributes that matter most for your business operations.

If you require a high-performance, secure, controlled environment, then a bare metal server is likely your best option. Evocative Metal can be deployed with the operating system of your choice at data centers located in major metros around the world at an affordable price that won’t severely impact your bottom line.

Evocative Metal seamlessly integrates with your existing IT environment and gives you:

Complete hardware control
No noisy neighbors
Geographically redundant infrastructure
Real-time security and compliance
24/7/365 support

To learn more about how Evocative can help you go to market faster while achieving cost predictability, improving performance, and gaining greater security for your infrastructure, we invite you to register for a whiteboard session.

Citations
1. IDC, Recession Tech Expectations: C-Suite Budget Plans for 2023, January 2023

The Evocative Team

Evocative is a global leader in Internet infrastructure, providing enterprise-class data center, network, and bare metal solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. Evocative’s global footprint includes interconnected data centers and Points of Presence across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through organic growth and strategic acquisition, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. Evocative is dedicated to helping drive digital businesses forward, now and in the decades to come.

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