Bare Metal vs. Cloud Servers: How to Choose the Right Infrastructure?

94% of all companies worldwide use cloud services because they eliminate the need to deploy IT infrastructure locally. But what is a cloud? And do you always have the only cloud vs. on-premises alternative? The short answer is no. In addition to the above option, you can choose a bare metal server or bare metal cloud. Next, we'll discuss what a bare metal cloud is and when it benefits you.

Understanding bare metal servers

Let's start with the notion of a server. So, a server is a physical machine for executing software; in simple words, it is a physical computer for storing data and providing direct access to it. 

A bare metal server is the same physical machine but it belongs to a third-party provider.

Why use a bare metal server? 

A bare metal server can be used to independently set up the IT infrastructure without the need to invest hardware resources.

How does a bare metal server differ from an on-premises server?

The only difference is that it is owned by a third-party provider, not by you.

Are bare metal and cloud infrastructure the same?

Not exactly. Bare metal provides resources for setting up IT infrastructure, not the cloud infrastructure itself. 

Why is a bare metal cloud still called a cloud?

It is still a cloud because you use the IT resources of an external organization and do not set up the server on your own side. 

Bare metal vs. cloud: what's the difference?

A bare metal server is a physical machine. A cloud server is a virtual machine.

When you rent bare metal, you become the sole owner of dedicated hardware resources in the specific data center (this is the reason why a bare metal server is often called a dedicated server).

Here are the facilities you receive under your control:

• CPU

• RAM

• Storage

• Network port

When you rent a cloud server, you access a virtual machine (VM), which is a software-based emulation of a physical computer.

There can be multiple virtual machines on a single physical computer. Each virtual machine may be owned by a different entity. This means that you are actually sharing computing resources with other customers of the cloud provider.

Is sharing the resources a good or a bad thing? 

Sharing computer resources in this way is neither good nor bad. The cloud provider "assigns" a set of computer resources to a specific virtual machine, so you can be sure that your virtual neighbors will not be able to access what belongs to you.

In any case, the choice of bare metal vs. cloud depends on the project specifics. What works in one case doesn't work in another. We will discuss this in more detail below.

Bare metal or cloud providers: which to choose?

So, you are a business owner who is about to launch or upgrade a software system. You have heard that the cloud is fast, easy, and affordable, while on-premises is challenging, resource intensive, and expensive. Now you've learned of a third option - bare metal - which provides hardware but not IT facilities on demand.

Does this mean that the bare metal alternative is somewhere between the cloud and on-premises options? Well, kind of. A bare metal cloud may or may not suit your purposes. Here are the factors you should consider when considering IT infrastructure options.

Security

Bare metal is considered more secure than cloud servers because you have complete control over your IT infrastructure and little dependence on a third-party provider. You independently configure the data storage, database, logging system, load balancer, network configuration, etc. But, at the same time, you are also solely responsible for your data security. Another point in favor of bare metal computing is that you are the only user of a physical machine and do not share its resources with other tenants.

Customization

Bare metal provides greater scope for customization than the cloud. Imagine, for example, that you are renting a house. You have two options - rent furnished or unfurnished accommodation. In the first case, you pay for what the landlord offers. Of course, you can rearrange the table or move the chair, but you cannot make broad changes to the interior. In the second option, you furnish everything according to your taste and budget within the available space.

Costs

This is a tricky part of the bare metal vs. cloud choice. You may have heard that bare metal is more expensive than a cloud, but this is a myth. You may have heard that the cloud is more expensive than bare metal; this is also a myth. The truth is that IT infrastructure budgeting is project-specific. In some cases, bare metal will be more beneficial; in others, it will not. However, if you choose bare metal, be prepared for high entry costs. If you choose the cloud, study the pricing of cloud services so as not to be surprised by an invoice at the end of the billing period.

Tip: Use the best practices to manage costs and save on cloud services.

Scalability

Scalability is a buzzword in today's tech environment for good reason. Modern applications must quickly respond to changes in traffic; otherwise, they risk losing customers and ruining business reputation. This is especially true for streaming services, eCommerce platforms, gaming applications, trading apps, telemedicine solutions, and video conferencing platforms. If you develop such an app, you should ensure fast performance and effortless scalability. In this case, cloud servers will suit you better than bare metal servers, as they allow the renting of IT resources on-demand.

Complexity

What is more complex in terms of setting and managing IT infrastructure - bare metal or cloud? As always, each option has its pros and cons. While bare metal servers are more complex to set up, cloud servers are more complicated to manage. When choosing bare metal, you need to hire DevOps, who can set the IT environment from scratch. When choosing a cloud, you should find a specialist well-versed in a specific cloud environment. For example, if you want to deploy your app in AWS, you should find a DevOps engineer with proven experience in managing Amazon instances.

Vendor lock-in

When you choose cloud computing over bare metal, you become dependent on a third-party organization. Imagine that you deploy your application to the cloud, spend time adjusting settings, arrange specific flow, and one day find out that your current provider no longer meets your needs. In this case, you will have to move to another cloud environment. There is nothing wrong with this. With expert help, you can effortlessly implement your move to another cloud. However, you must consider these risks when choosing a cloud infrastructure for your app.

Bare metal vs. cloud: example of cost comparison

In this section, we will provide a comparison of the costs of bare metal vs. cloud for a real-life example. 

In a recent project, we helped a client set up an efficient and economical IT infrastructure. Our technical specialists and business analysts extensively analyzed bare metal and cloud computing services from different providers, and we were then able to propose a solution that significantly saved the company's costs on IT infrastructure. The client also received full control over its IT resources.

Following are some details of the project.

System requirements

Before evaluating IT infrastructure configurations, we determined the system requirements. 

For the production environment, we needed three bare metal servers situated in different locations within a single hosting provider. We expected each machine to be capable of running at least:

• 5 containers with Java applications, consuming 4GB RAM each

• 1 container with PostgreSQL, requiring 80GB RAM

• 10 to 20 additional containers that have lower memory requirements (such as Nginx, Graylog, RabbitMQ, etc.)

To fulfill these needs, each server should have possessed a minimum of 128GB RAM, at least 2TB of storage, and preferably 40 or more CPU threads. We also narrowed down our selection to Intel Xeon processors because our application relied on Intel SGX technology.

Comparing configurations

Now, let's dive into evaluating the configurations on bare metal servers provided by OVH and Hetzner and on Amazon EC2 in their EU data center located in Ireland.

OVH provided multiple suitable options that meet our defined requirements. We took two of them for our evaluation: OVH Advance-6 and OVH Scale-4. 

Regarding Hetzner, we had the option to choose Dell DX292, which could be customized to closely resemble the configuration of OVH Scale-4. 

AWS EC2 also provided different configurations that met our system's needs, one of them being m4.10xlarge. 

You can see the comparative table of configurations provided by different providers below.

You might be wondering why we included options with 99.5% or 99.95% instance-level uptime when our system's Service Level Agreement (SLA) must have been 99.99%. The reason was that we could enhance uptime by utilizing multiple servers, evenly distributed across different geographic locations, instead of relying on a single data center.

As you can see, the only parameter where the EC2 candidate outperformed the bare metal servers was the bandwidth of the public channel. However, OVH provided unmetered 10 Gbit for an extra $600 per month (you can add this into your calculations if you are sure this would make a difference to your customers).

Comparing prices

Considering that we required a minimum of three instances for the production environment, as well as one instance for the development/sandbox environments and internal tools, we evaluated the costs for infrastructure hardware as follows:

• 4x OVH Advance-6: $1,447.44

• 4x OVH Scale-4: $2,559.64

• 4x Hetzner DX292: 1,806.88

• 4x AWS m4.10xlarge: $11,570.88

As you can see, the bare metal infrastructure was considerably more cost-effective compared to AWS EC2. Moreover, considering that the Scale-4 and DX292 configurations outperformed the Advance-6 configuration, it became our clear and obvious choice.

Note: We deployed the main IT infrastructure on OVH servers and utilized the Hetzner server as a backup. You have the flexibility to either follow our approach or opt for the complete opposite. The choice would depend on the service-level agreement (SLA) and the provider's track record.

Bare metal servers and cloud servers: сalculating costs for businesses

In the above example, bare metal proved to be more beneficial than cloud computing services, but this does not mean it will be the same in your particular case. The cost of IT infrastructure is calculated based on the app specifics, system requirements, and business expectations.

Are you working with big data? Do you need a big storage capacity? Have a highly loaded system? All this will affect the IT resources, their price, and the final cost of IT configuration. In some cases, bare metal is more suitable for you; in others, a cloud will be a perfect choice.

Regardless of your choice between a bare metal server or an IT infrastructure in the cloud, expert DevOps assistance is crucial for managing the entire software system. Consider budgeting 10-20 hours a week to maintain the software on a chosen infrastructure. And with senior DevOps' hourly rate of $60-75, count on adding $2500 to $6000 to the monthly cost of the IT infrastructure.

In the above example, using the OVH Scale-4 configuration and having senior full-time DevOps, the total price for IT infrastructure was $8,600 a month.

Do you need to calculate the cost of IT infrastructure for your project? Reach out to our experts, and they will provide you with the most profitable solution considering your business needs.