Understanding the key differences between bare metal and hypervisors

Cloud technology has seen significant breakthroughs in the last two decades. Notably, experts have successfully accommodated the needs of different user groups with varying functional requirements.

To achieve this, they had to find a way to optimize server resource usage. This development split cloud hosting technologies into two halves: bare metal and hypervisors. One half is dedicated to specialty users, and the other to regular users.

Hypervisor technology was created to help use bare metal resources more efficiently and accommodate more users. That left bare metal servers for high-performance-oriented apps and other power users.

This guide provides insights into the key differences between bare metal and hypervisors and some of their best functions and use cases.

Ready? Let’s dive in. Here’s what this article will cover:

• Bare metal vs hypervisors
• Bare metal servers
• Hypervisors
• Choosing between bare metal and hypervisors: Key factors
• Final thoughts: Bare metal vs hypervisors — Understanding the differences

Bare metal vs hypervisors

Bare metal refers to a dedicated server assigned to a single user. In contrast, a hypervisor is software installed on a bare metal server that lets the server owner host multiple users by facilitating virtual machine creation and deletion.

Despite their differences, bare metal and hypervisors are prevalent in the cloud economy. That’s because both have strengths that make them ideal for diverse use cases. 

Here’s how bare metal and hypervisors compare.

Performance

Bare metal offers better performance. Software installed on bare metal has direct access to the physical hardware, significantly reducing latency and lag.

Virtual machines (VMs) must exist on hypervisors. As such, they have lower specifications compared to bare metal. This, combined with the hypervisor overhead, increases latency and throttles their performance.

Resource allocation

Software installed on bare metal can use all the server’s hardware resources. A bare metal user never has to compete for resources with other tenants. In contrast, hypervisors share the same hardware resources among different tenants.

As a result, a “noisy neighbor” experiencing heightened resource consumption can reduce your VM’s performance.

Cost

The upfront cost of acquiring and maintaining a bare metal server is high. On the other hand, virtual servers let you pay as you go, lowering your upfront cost. However, you must pay attention to usage as they can be costlier as you scale your operations.

Scalability

Both bare metal and hypervisors scale with your business. However, the complexity level differs. 

To scale a bare metal setup, you enhance performance by adding physical servers to your server cluster. This process is long and intricate, and scaling down isn’t straightforward either.

In contrast, VMs are more straightforward to scale because hypervisors create new instances with high specifications and destroy them on the host machine in minutes — which makes scaling down easier because you can simply eliminate the VMs you no longer need.

Security

Security is crucial, regardless of your configuration. The good thing is that both setups are secure. However, bare metal offers better protection because it has better isolation. This is a benefit of being a single tenant on the server.

In comparison, you must carefully configure a VM’s security to avoid data loss and intrusion. That’s assuming you’re not running on a managed cloud setup where your cloud provider configures your security protocols.

Bare metal servers

A bare metal server is physically isolated and completely dedicated to one user. The user has complete access and control to the server’s hardware, which is unique in cloud computing.

The typical practice in cloud computing is for cloud providers to use hypervisors to host multiple users on one server. Unlike bare metal, this practice lets cloud providers create friendlier pricing plans, which helps increase adoption.

Although visibly beneficial, virtualization technology has several unintended side effects. For instance, you can expect reduced performance and increased security vulnerabilities, issues you wouldn’t find in bare metal.

Advantages of bare metal servers

Below are the inherent benefits of using bare metal:

• Optimal performance: The server’s resources are focused on your deployment, delivering excellent performance. You don’t have to compete for the resources with other users because they’re assigned their own separate servers.
• Customizability: You can configure the software on a bare metal server to run however you want. This is handy when you want to make complex deployments. Additionally, configuration isn’t limited to software because you can request specific hardware upgrades from the cloud provider.
• Security: Since you’re the only tenant in bare metal, your security can be as strong as needed. Additionally, you don’t have to contend with the complications of sharing a server, like increased security vulnerabilities.
• Low latency: Bare metal offers low latency because your software has direct hardware access. The absence of a middle layer translates to faster processing times for your requests.

The numerous benefits of bare metal prime it for several use cases that other server configurations can’t handle as effectively.

Bare metal server use cases

The use cases of bare metal below produce the best results when they have unrestricted hardware access:

• Data-intensive applications: Data-intensive applications like search engines (Google), social media platforms (Facebook), and recommendation systems (Netflix) have high input/output (I/O) throughput. Low latency is essential.
• Content delivery networks (CDNs): Several high-performance servers in different data centers across the globe. They work together to reduce webpage load time online by promptly delivering content on demand. Speed is crucial.
• Database hosting: Databases are critical applications. Their speed directly affects the speed of a client-facing application, thus affecting user experience (UX). Low latency significantly improves their performance.
• Dedicated gaming infrastructure: Games — especially online multi-user games — require extensive processing capabilities to deliver a smooth user experience.

Good as it is, bare metal isn’t invariably ideal for all cloud computing scenarios. Some setups, like hosting informational websites, require less computing power. And for these, hypervisors provide the best solution.

Hypervisors

A hypervisor —or virtual machine monitor (VMM) — is software that manages and virtualizes computer hardware. It hosts multiple customers on bare metal by creating virtual machines (VMs). The VMs (or guests) share the server’s physical resources. 

Examples of physical resources that hypervisors share among their guests include storage, processor (CPU), and memory (RAM). The hypervisor allocates all the resources a typical server would have to each VM.

You can use hypervisors directly on bare metal or the host operating system (host OS). However, both scenarios have different requirements, which is why two types of hypervisors exist.

Types of hypervisors

There are two main types of hypervisors:

• Type 1 Hypervisor: This hypervisor interacts with the hardware directly. No middleware exists between it and the hardware, so it’s also known as a bare metal hypervisor. Examples of type 1 hypervisors include VMware vSphere, VMware ESXi, and Microsoft Hyper-V.
• Type 2 Hypervisor: A type 2 hypervisor is an application that sits and runs on an operating system like Windows or Linux. It’s also known as a hosted hypervisor or embedded hypervisor. Examples include Oracle Virtual Box, VMware Fusion, and Microsoft Virtual PC.

Type 1 hypervisors are less common because they require specialized hardware and expertise, which is inherently expensive. Only organizations with large financial muscles, such as cloud providers, can afford them.

On the other hand, type 2 hypervisors are more common since they are easier to set up and deploy. A computer with an operating system like Windows or a Linux distribution like RedHat can easily deploy a type 2 hypervisor. This is why they are popular with developers and small businesses.

Although hypervisors create an overhead, there are numerous benefits to using them in certain instances.

Advantages of hypervisors

Major advantages of running hypervisors include:

• Enhanced resource usage: With multiple VMs on a single physical server, all resources are used efficiently. Users consume only what they need and leave the rest for others.
• Swift scalability: You can spin up new VMs with predefined specifications in minutes. This capability simplifies the scaling process for an application experiencing a surge in traffic or increased workload.
• Reduced maintenance costs: Customers don’t have to pay for the entire server to use its resources. Hypervisors support pay-as-you-go plans, allowing customers to pay only for the resources they consume.
• Portability: Hypervisors abstract VMs from the underlying hardware. This means that VMs are completely independent of the hardware they run on. Therefore, they can be moved between servers without the need for reconfiguration.

Although VM performance is lower than bare metal, there are particular use cases where hypervisors are better choices.

Hypervisor use cases

Below is a list of scenarios where you can use hypervisor-enabled cloud solutions:

• Web hosting: Cloud service providers create storage space for you to store website files accessible through the World Wide Web. Web hosting is commonly packaged and sold as WordPress hosting and WooCommerce hosting.
• Centralized data storage: Some businesses need a centralized repository where they can upload all their data using specialized software. Anyone within the enterprise can access the data remotely, provided they’re connected to the internet.
• Web development and testing: Websites usually end up on the internet. So it’s easier to develop and test them in similar environments. Hypervisors create a virtual environment for developers to test their builds.
• Business continuity plans (BCPs): BCPs document your business’s protocols to prevent or recover from cyber-attacks and other disasters. BCPs don’t need intensive resources to store, so VMs are handy.

Although the information above makes it easy to distinguish bare metal and hypervisors, it can be challenging to determine which one is right for you when the time comes. So, knowing what to look out for from the outset is essential.

Choosing between bare metal and hypervisors: Key factors

Below are the things you should consider before choosing between bare metal and hypervisors. It’s worth noting that while reliability and ease of use are fairly straightforward, cost and performance are inherently complex.

To pick the most relevant bare metal or hypervisor implementation, you must deeply analyze your performance needs, budget, and available options.

After settling on the best option, consider other factors beyond the scope of this guide, like customer support and cloud provider reputation. All these factors affect the overall experience and success of your deployment.

What you can afford

Bare metals are, without a doubt, costlier. As such, you should consider the size of your budget. Choose bare metal over hypervisors if you don’t have budgetary restrictions and need superior performance.

However, just because you can afford bare metal doesn’t mean you should go for it. Consider the computing power your deployment needs. A much cheaper VM can serve you just as well as a bare metal with significantly less financial overhead.

Overall, VMs are ideal for smaller enterprises with smaller deployments that want to keep a finger on their budget pulse.

Performance requirements 

Intense projects like machine learning algorithms require high-performance computing, so you’re better off using bare metal. But if you want to host a simple informational website or an ecommerce website with low monthly traffic, you’re looking at a VM.

Even if you have a data-intensive application, consider your cloud provider’s highest VM specification before making the final decision. A VM could still be viable when bare metal seems like the obvious choice and vice versa.

Reliability

Reliability is also multifaceted. You can approach it from a performance, scaling, or security perspective.

From a performance perspective, bare metal is hands down the most reliable. It delivers the raw power of the server to your applications. The only overhead you must deal with is firmware, which is critical anyway.

That said, hypervisors thrive when it comes to scalability. Scaling a deployment on a hypervisor is as easy as spinning up new instances in minutes and using a load balancer to distribute your workload across them.

The simplicity of scaling with hypervisors contrasts sharply with bare metal, which requires adding physical servers to your cluster. This process can be time-consuming and costly.

However, despite being easy to scale, VMs are susceptible to interference from neighbors with lower security standards. Bare metal doesn’t have this issue due to full isolation. Being the only tenant, you set your security standards.

Ease-of-use

Generally, hypervisors are easier to use. Setting up a VM takes a few clicks, and most of the crucial configurations, like security, are handled for you, although you can take additional measures. 

In contrast, bare metal demands server security prowess to configure and maintain security protocols.

Final thoughts: Bare metal vs hypervisors — Understanding the differences

Bare metal and hypervisors are great alternatives in their respective domains. But to get the most from either, you must have a solid grasp of your deployment’s intricacies. 

Although bare metal offers the most raw computing power overall, VMs can equally be powerful when you deploy them correctly.

Whatever your choice is, Liquid Web offers perfect bare metal and hypervisor solutions. For instance, our bare metal hosting has top-of-the-line processors like the Intel E-2356G and Intel Xeon Gold 6526 Dual. 

Paired with at least 32GB memory, 15TB bandwidth, customizability, excellent performance, and ready-to-go Windows or Linux instances, the processors deliver unparalleled performance.

Similarly, our cloud hosting solutions are flexible, support rapid provisioning, and provide optional full server management and industry-leading support.

Check out our hosting plans or reach out to us to get started today.