A bare metal server is a physical server that has no virtualization layer or operating system. Unlike virtualized servers, bare metal servers provide an environment with direct access to hardware resources without the need for a virtual machine monitor.
A bare metal server is a physical server without a virtualization layer. It runs directly on the hardware, not in a virtual machine.
Characteristics of bare metal servers:
Performance:
Bare metal servers typically offer higher performance because they are not subject to the performance penalties of the virtualization layer. This makes them suitable for workloads that require large amounts of computing resources or have high performance requirements.
Hardware pass-through:
Bare metal servers support hardware pass-through, allowing applications to directly access physical hardware resources to improve performance and efficiency. This is very important for some workloads with special requirements.
No virtualization overhead:
Since there is no virtualization layer, bare metal servers do not have the overhead caused by virtualization, such as additional processing overhead, memory overhead, and I/O overhead.
Independence and isolation:
Each bare metal server is an independent entity, isolated from other servers. This provides greater security and isolation for applications that require a self-contained environment.
Direct hardware access:
Bare metal servers allow direct access to hardware resources, which is important for applications and workloads that need to interact with specific hardware, such as hardware acceleration, GPU computing, etc.
Flexibility:
Although bare metal servers do not offer the flexibility of virtualization, they provide greater flexibility in configuring and adjusting the hardware to meet the needs of specific applications.
Applicable to specific workloads:
Bare metal servers are usually used for specific workloads, such as high-performance computing, big data processing, databases, game servers, etc.
Direct operating system installation:
Users can install and configure the operating system directly on bare metal servers without going through virtual machine images. This provides more direct operating system management.
Bare metal servers are suitable for application scenarios that have high performance requirements, require direct hardware access, or have special security and isolation requirements. However, it is important to note that while bare metal servers provide performance and flexibility, they may not be as flexible as virtualized environments in terms of resource sharing and rapid deployment.