Bare metal machines, also known as bare metal servers or dedicated servers, are physical servers dedicated to a single user or organization. Unlike virtual machines (VMs) or cloud-based solutions, where multiple users share the same hardware resources through virtualization, bare metal machines provide the user with direct access to the entire hardware resources of the server.
The term "bare metal" refers to the fact that the server runs directly on the hardware, without any virtualization layer or hypervisor. This means that the operating system and applications have direct access to the server's CPU, memory, storage, and other resources, resulting in better performance and less overhead compared to virtualized environments.
Advantages of bare metal machines:
Performance: Since there is no virtualization layer, the resources are not shared, and there is no overhead associated with virtualization, bare metal machines generally provide better performance than virtual machines.
Resource control: Users have complete control over the hardware resources, allowing for more precise resource allocation and customization to fit specific needs.
Security: Running workloads directly on the hardware without a virtualization layer can provide increased security, as the attack surface is reduced. This can be particularly important for organizations with strict security requirements or regulatory compliance needs.
Stability: Without the potential for resource contention from other users or virtual machines, bare metal machines can offer a more stable and predictable environment.
Disadvantages of bare metal machines:
Cost: Since each user has dedicated hardware, bare metal machines can be more expensive than virtual machines or cloud-based solutions that share resources among multiple users.
Scalability: Scaling resources on a bare metal machine generally requires manual intervention, such as adding more physical hardware, while scaling resources in a virtualized or cloud-based environment can often be done more quickly and easily.
Management: The user is responsible for managing the entire hardware and software stack, which can increase the complexity and time required for administration compared to virtualized or cloud-based solutions.
Bare metal machines are often used in situations where performance, resource control, or security are crucial, such as high-performance computing, big data processing, gaming servers, or sensitive data storage.
Managing compute infrastructure remains a challenge despite innovations in containerization, virtual machines, and serverless computing. In the era of cloud computing, both cloud providers and customers must manage OS rollouts, patches, and fleets of VMs and containers. Container orchestration systems, like Kubernetes, require OS images for containers. It is crucial to enforce OS compliance across all containers and VMs to prevent security breaches. Providing a standardized minimal OS for all deployments ensures a secure platform for developers. Standardization has significant benefits and few downsides, but it is easier to implement in smaller companies. Large companies and cloud providers that did not standardize early on have faced massive projects to standardize OS images later.
