Dedicated Server

A dedicated server is a type of remote server that is entirely dedicated to an individual, organization or application. It is deployed, hosted and managed by a hosting, cloud or managed service provider (MSP).

A dedicated server is exclusive and not shared with any other customer, service or application.

A dedicated server provides functionality like an in-house server but is owned, operated and managed by the backend provider. The user/customer remotely connects with the dedicated server over the Internet to perform a suite of server based services.

A dedicated server may be used to host applications and/or services, as well as for data storage and backup services. A dedicated server also may be used internally for the hosting and provisioning of specialized services, such as implementing dedicated file or network servers.

What makes up a dedicated server? 

At its core, a dedicated server is just a form of computer. The main difference between any type of computer (laptop, watch, phone, smart fridge) is the form factor (the physical space that a device takes up).

What’s unique about servers – compared to other computers – is that the form factor is standardized. Laptops, for example, are categorized by the size of the screen. The form factor of a server today is categorized using the term U, which stands for units and represents the height of the server.

So, when you buy or rent a bare metal server, you can select anything from a 1U server, all the way to 48U. The smaller number U, the smaller the server. Most people or businesses will only require a server between 1U and 3U.

Similarly, the racks in which dedicated bare metal servers are housed, also come in Us. The most common server rack sizes are 42U or 47U but they are also often available in 40U and 55U. Again, the number represents the physical height of the rack and the higher the number, the taller the rack.

The size of the dedicated server determines the number of components that can go into that server. Smaller 1U servers are less powerful because they have less space to accommodate components, including those needed for cooling. 2U servers are more powerful and are therefore physically bigger to allow for more space, air, and cooling.

What are the advantages of a dedicated server?

Being ‘dedicated’ means a server is rented to you in its entirety—none of it is split or shared with other users or customers.

The benefit of this is that you have full and exclusive access to the underlying hardware; giving you complete control over the specification and set up of the server.

This control, as well as the ability to harness the full power of your own dedicated bare metal server has a number of key advantages, including:

No noisy neighbors

A shared server environment can have its benefits, particularly from a cost perspective if you are a startup. However, it also comes with a noisy neighbor problem.

Customers in a shared environment share the server resource with others. There are a few issues with this as these example scenarios demonstrate:

One of the other clients that shares your server suddenly gets busy and requires a much greater percentage of the resources. You are then left with access to much less server resource than you had before, which could cause issues with delivery of service to customers.

Another client on your server downloads a virus to that server or gets hit by a DDoS attack. When this kind of incident occurs, it’s not just that client who is impacted but every client on that server.

The next advantage of having your own dedicated bare metal server is closely tied to eliminating noisy neighbors.

Stable performance

Ensuring consistency of service and experience for customers is crucial for any company. The reliability of your infrastructure is a key component of delivering that consistency to your customers.

• As mentioned above, dedicated bare metal servers offer more stability and reliability for your application because the server resources aren’t being shared with anyone else. You are not at the mercy of other people’s mistakes or resource demands.
• Let’s take a look at how the stability of dedicated bare metal compares to a shared environment:
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• Dedicated bare metal servers
• Shared server environment
• Reduced load times, even during peak usage and traffic times
• Increase in load times during peak usage and traffic times
• Faster processing speeds
• Slower processing speeds owing to other tenants running bad scripts
• Not reliant on other clients on the server to ensure good security practices, therefore inherently more secure
• Increased security threats and compliance issues
• Better uptime than any other form of hosting service
• More frequent downtime and crashes
• Dedicated server resource ensures the network isn’t overloaded
• Network congestions and bottlenecks
• Better, more consistent performance
• Performance issues with IT operations owing to resources being eaten up by other tenants

Greater customization

Dedicated bare metal servers offer more customization than shared or cloud hosting solutions. Because a dedicated bare metal server is yours alone, you can customize the specifications of that server to your exact requirements, depending on your use case.

Bare metal customization options typically include:

Choosing which operating system (OS) you would like to run on your server

Selecting a CPU provider as well as the number of cores and the performance of each of those cores. Note however that the CPU is fixed to a certain extent by the hosting provider as they may not have all CPU models in stock

Specifying the amount of RAM and storage (up to the physical limitations of the server)

Choosing between network connectivity options

Installing your own control panel

Robust security

If your organization is security conscious, choosing to buy or rent bare metal servers is a good option for you.

If a tenant is hacked or infected with a virus on a shared server, this can easily lead to server-wide downtime and a breach of security for other tenants on the server. Malicious actors can even gain access to your data via your neighbors.

The ability to customize your dedicated server enables you to adapt your security measures to meet growing or changing threats and deploy your preferred DDoS protection, antivirus and malware software. You can also set up firewalls, create custom disaster recovery plans, manage user permissions, add encryption and manage your own updates.

Operational simplicity

Compared with running your own equipment, there is much less administration required when you rent bare metal servers.

Instead of having to manage relationships with multiple different suppliers, your hosting provider manages them for you. That includes managing procurement, legal processes, and accounting. By choosing to rent bare metal servers, you’ll only have to worry about your monthly fee and manage one business relationship with your hosting provider—saving time and money in the long run.

Cloud-like scalability

Dedicated bare metal servers have historically been slow to scale. That’s changed and today bare metal hosting providers can spin up new servers in under an hour.

Importantly, they can also be scaled down easily when demand decreases. And short-term contracts ensure that companies are not tied into fixed contracts that inhibit their ability to shift with market changes.

Predictability

Today’s businesses are operating in a very unpredictable landscape. So, finding predictability where you can is important. Dedicated bare metal hosting providers can offer that.

If you have rented server resources through hyperscale cloud providers, you’ll know that bills can be inconsistent, regularly coming with surprise additions.

With dedicated bare metal servers, you know exactly what you’re getting and how much it costs per month. Bills are simple to understand and there are no surprises.

Control

Typically, in a shared environment, companies can only host applications that the hosting provider allows. You also won’t be allowed access to the operating system, meaning that you can’t make OS-level changes.

Of course, for some, you may not want the responsibility of managing changes to the OS. In which case, this benefit will depend on what stage you are as a business and the maturity of your IT team.