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Businesses have access to a bewildering array of cloud and server hosting. If you’re at a loss as to whether you should choose a public cloud, a private cloud, a hybrid cloud, or a bare metal server, you have come to the right place.
Why are there so many different server hosting options? Surely a server is a server. In fact, each type of server hosting has particular strengths. Each can be used for anything you might want to use a server for, but your results will be better if you choose the right server hosting for your specific scenario. If you need help deciding, a good start is to discuss your specific needs with an IT Cloud expert.
Steadfast’s cloud and bare metal server hosting experts work with our clients to help them select the best infrastructure for their business. You don’t have to make these decisions alone, but it’s useful to have a basic understanding of the options that are available to you. With that in mind, let’s have a look at the main cloud server hosting options and why you should care about the differences.
A public cloud provides on-demand access to virtual servers, which run on physical servers shared between several users.
Public cloud is what most of us think of as the cloud, unless you’re in the industry, in which case you might think of it as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Public cloud platforms like Steadfast’s Simplicity Public Clouds are large clusters of bare metal servers that, via a hypervisor, run virtual cloud servers.
Public cloud servers are on-demand: users can create and destroy them as they see fit. Many of the industry-leading cloud providers do not require long-term contracts or regular payments on a public cloud platform: users just pay for the compute and storage resources their cloud servers consume.
Cloud servers are perfect for any scenario where rapidly changing or peaking workloads are an issue: high-traffic websites and eCommerce stores, for instance. They’re also ideal when servers will be short-lived. Public cloud servers may not be the best choice where high-performance I/O or intensive number crunching are involved, or where privacy or regulatory concerns demand a single-tenant platform.
A private cloud is much like a public cloud, but with one key difference, the underlying physical hardware is at the disposal of a single client. Whereas the public cloud is a multi-tenant server hosting environment, private clouds are single-tenant. Private clouds combine the benefits of bare metal with the flexibility of the cloud. While public cloud platforms are secure, private clouds are a good option for businesses that need to know no one else’s data or code touches their infrastructure.
The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities that affect all modern server processors could have been used by the owner of a virtual machine to access data on other virtual servers on an unpatched physical server, a scenario that is much less likely if a single organization has access the physical infrastructure layer.
With a private cloud, customers are guaranteed to have access to the full resources of the physical layer, whenever they need it.
The elasticity of the public cloud is useful for rapidly changing workloads, but for static and long-lived workloads, private cloud platforms are less expensive over the life of a project and can be scaled at a rate that meets the needs of most SME and enterprise infrastructure scenarios.
This scalability is often why Private clouds should be considered for everything from website hosting and big data analytics to ERP, CRM, and business application hosting.
Steadfast Simplicity Private Clouds are custom server hosting environments built in consultation with individual customers. Because Steadfast builds custom private clouds tailored to the needs of each client, they are often more cost effective than extensive public cloud deployments.
Private clouds are flexible and can be used for everything from website hosting and big data analytics to ERP, CRM, and business application hosting.
Bare metal servers are enterprise-grade dedicated servers. They are the foundation on which all other server hosting is built. Bare metal servers aren’t strictly speaking a kind of cloud server hosting, but they are a useful option to have in your infrastructure toolbox.
Bare metal servers have one big advantage — performance. If raw IO or number-crunching performance matter more to your project than flexibility or agility, a bare metal server is the best option. Bare metal servers are excellent for scientific and financial computing, analytics, database hosting, API hosting, disaster recovery, and more.
All of the available server hosting types — public cloud, private cloud, bare metal servers, colocated or even on-premise servers — have a domain in which they excel. Businesses can choose the best server hosting option for their project.
That’s the goal of a hybrid cloud, which brings together the full range of server hosting options in a harmonious whole. With a hybrid cloud, businesses gain full access to the capabilities of a wide range of infrastructure options without unnecessary complexity. Steadfast works with its customers to engineer custom hybrid cloud solutions that allow customers to get the right server hosting modality for their various needs.
Although they may be branded differently, many of the big cloud vendors, including AWS and Azure, offer a similar mix of cloud server hosting options. But businesses should be thinking about more than just the type of cloud hosting: support and expert guidance are vital to the success of any cloud migration strategy. Cloud support on the “big three” cloud platforms is aimed at enterprise customers and comes with an enterprise price-tag.
Steadfast’s team of expert engineers and support staff are used to working with businesses of all sizes, providing the necessary consultation, guidance, and management services to empower clients who are new to the cloud to maximize the potential of their cloud hosting platforms.
Steadfast offers a comprehensive range of cloud and bare metal hosting options, along with the expertise to help your business make the most of its infrastructure. For a free consultation, get in touch today.
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