What is a bare metal server? [+Pros & Cons]

As the name suggests, a bare metal server is a physical server that sits within a data center or rack.

They are also known as single-tenant servers because each server serves just one tenant or client.

The benefit of a bare metal server is that the user has sole access to the server’s resources and can configure the server to their specifications, including the processor, RAM, networking set-up, and storage.

For example, a client can specify NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs), which provide loading speeds that outstrip standard SATA SSDs and hard disks.

The operating system (OS) is installed directly on the server. The purpose of the operating system is to standardize access to the compute resources of that bare metal server for customers.

A bare metal environment looks like this :

bare metal environment

Because a bare metal server is dedicated to a single user, customers benefit from high security, control, and performance that is hard to beat.

Pros and cons of using bare metal –

Pros –

• Exclusivity — Sole access to server resources for the tenant
• Customizable — Specify components, including RAM, storage, and networking, as well as the operating system
• Security — Because they are physically separated from other tenants, bare metal servers offer additional security
• Predictable costs — consistent monthly costs with no surprise invoice additions

Cons –

• Higher entry cost — bare metal can only be rented by the physical server, and the smallest configuration available may be more than you need
• Slower scalability — while provisioning bare metal has got far quicker, it still can’t match the speed of cloud

Stay tuned for our next blog, where we will talk about cloud servers and how they are different from bare metal.