bare-metal cloud
A bare-metal cloud refers to a service that provides users with dedicated, physical servers managed and maintained by a third-party managed service provider (MSP). These servers are “bare metal,” meaning they come without any installed operating system (OS) or applications, offering only the essential hardware. Users have the flexibility to install their chosen OS directly onto the physical hard drive, allowing applications to run natively on the hardware without the overhead of virtualization layers[2].
"Bare-metal" is hyphenated here because it is being used as an adjective to modify the word "cloud". If it were being used as a noun, it would not have a hyphen.
Bare-metal cloud services operate by allowing users to rent dedicated physical hardware resources via the public cloud. The provisioning process is typically managed through a web-based portal, where users can select their desired server configuration, operating system, and additional services such as load balancing. Once a server is provisioned, control is handed over to the user, who then manages, configures, and licenses the operating systems, applications, and databases on the bare-metal instance[5].
Some of the most important attributes of a bare-metal cloud include:
- Dedicated Resources: Bare-metal clouds are single-tenant environments, meaning the physical hardware is not shared with other tenants. This setup provides users with full control over the server’s resources, leading to higher performance and lower latency compared to multi-tenant, virtualized environments[2].
- Customization and Control: Users can customize their bare-metal server to meet specific OS, software stack, and application requirements. This level of control is particularly beneficial for troubleshooting and optimizing performance[1].
- Scalability: Despite being based on physical hardware, bare-metal cloud services are highly scalable. Providers can quickly provision additional servers on-demand, allowing businesses to easily adjust their infrastructure to meet changing needs[5].
- Security and Isolation: With dedicated hardware, bare-metal clouds offer enhanced security and isolation compared to multi-tenant cloud environments. This setup eliminates the “noisy neighbor” problem and reduces the risk of sensitive data exposure to other tenants[2][5].
- Performance: Without the overhead of a hypervisor or virtualization layer, bare-metal servers can offer superior performance, making them ideal for high-performance workloads like big data processing, AI and ML training, and mission-critical applications[2].
Bare-metal clouds are particularly suited for applications that require direct access to hardware for performance reasons or need to run in isolated environments for security or compliance purposes. Examples include big data analytics, high-transaction databases, and applications with specific hardware performance requirements[1][2].
Citations:
[1] https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/definition/bare-metal-cloud
[2] https://www.purestorage.com/knowledge/what-is-bare-metal-cloud.html
[3] https://www.ibm.com/topics/bare-metal-dedicated-servers
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-metal_server
[5] https://www.cherryservers.com/blog/what-is-bare-metal-cloud
[6] https://www.ovhcloud.com/en/learn/what-is-bare-metal-server/