1981

Description

There s much debate between Cloud Servers vs physical Servers. To decide which option is right, it s key to understand the basic differences, as well as similarities, and how each can best serve your needs. There is no right answer, which is why we believe both cloud and dedicated servers should be considered when custom architecting your servers. In order to do that accurately, let s dig into what each one is, and how they can serve you.

When broken down, the main difference between cloud servers and dedicated servers is as follows: cloud servers live on large clusters of resources, which provides an impressive pool of RAM, processing power and storage IOPs ? allowing smooth scaling without the hassle of hardware upgrades, resource bursting and high availability.

A physical dedicated server, on the other hand, provides a specified resource limit based on the literal hardware installed and configured on the server. While cloud resources can be dispersed and allocated where needed, dedicated servers guarantee 100% of the resources contained in that physical server are reserved and available for that user whether needed or not, often resulting in a client paying for resources they don?t need. Each can be further defined, and you can find a wide range of differing definitions the more detailed you get, but that?s not the purpose of this post.

When determining the right server configurations for your hosting needs, it?s important to identify what you are looking to get out of your hosting services. For example, let?s say you have a specific constant high-load scenario. In this case, the dedicated resources of a physical server will be ideal to handle this load. It?s important to keep in mind, however, that whatever your needs are, a physical dedicated server is limited to only the available resources in that server. For example, if it is somewhat common to experience short burst in traffic, but not enough to justify paying monthly for added resources, a Windows cloud server will leverage certain idle resources from the entire cluster.

Furthermore, the cloud cluster is intelligent enough to seamlessly move cloud servers around within the cluster to assure optimal use and availability of resources ? more CPU-intensive servers are moved to a cluster node that is less utilized; servers with higher storage utilization are moved to arrays with more idle capacity and so on. This intelligent resource balancing assures an optimal experience for all Windows cloud server users.

In addition to considering your current hosting requirements, a key factor in choosing between a dedicated and a Windows cloud server is your short and long-term goals for growth. What happens when you?ve outgrown your current server resources? Adding CPU, RAM or storage capacity to a dedicated server means provisioning hardware and scheduling maintenance. And based on the model of server initially deployed, there are limits to the total CPU, RAM and storage capacity supported. Once that limit is reached, the next step can become rather complex, as the application and all settings must be migrated to new hardware. This process can be both costly and time-consuming if not perfectly planned and executed. In such cases, having a high-touch managed hosting provider is crucial to ensuring a smooth transition without delays.

As previously mentioned, cloud servers live on a massive cluster with tremendous amounts of available resources ? hundreds of gigabytes of RAM, tens of thousands of gigahertz of processing power and tens of thousands of storage IOPs. Adding resources to a Windows cloud server configuration can literally be as simple as a few clicks and configurations changes performed by the managed host. A server reboot may be required for Windows to recognize the addition of certain resources. Even in the case of a reboot, the changes are queued in advance and the impact is measured in seconds, with the short interruption happening at the most convenient time for the client to minimize impact.

The advantages of scaling with a cloud server should be an important consideration in planning out your hosting needs both short and long-term.

Very often, our clients approach us with IO-intensive hosting needs, but are still looking to utilize the cost-savings, scalability and availability of the cloud. In this case, it is very likely that we will customize ahybrid hosting configuration with a dedicated server for the back end database, while utilizing a Windows cloud server for both the development/management and web server. This is just one example of how to utilize the power of both.

Whether you end up with a dedicated. cloud or hybrid server configuration, the ultimate outcome will only be as good as the team backing it up. We ve said for years that the true difference in managed hosting lies in the execution. We?ve worked to consistently stay ahead of the latest technologies, even supporting them before launch, and we have spent the last 16 years developing the most advanced, high-touch managed hosting support around. With a dedicated webteam available from developing your configuration needs to implementation to deep monitoring once you?re live, we have you covered.

At the end of the day, the question isn?t whether dedicated or cloud is better ? we?re determined to provide the most ideal, scale-ready hosting environment for your site or application.

Interested to learn more? Give us a call at 1-888-313-9421. or email us at Sales@OrcsWeb