Cloud Servers

What is a cloud server?

A cloud server is powerful physical or virtual infrastructure that performs application- and information-processing storage. Cloud servers are created using virtualization software to divide a physical (bare metal) server into multiple virtual servers. Organizations use an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) model to process workloads and store information. They can access virtual server functions remotely through an online interface.

Key features

• Computing infrastructure that can be physical (bare metal), virtual, or a mix of the two depending on use case
• Has all the capabilities of an on-premises server
• Enables users to process intensive workloads and store large volumes of information
• Automated services are accessed on demand through an API
• Gives users the choice of monthly or as-you-go payment
• Users can opt for a shared hosting plan that scales depending on needs

Why cloud servers?

Cost effectiveness

With cloud servers, organizations only pay for what they need and reduce the expense that comes with maintaining server hardware.

Scalability

Users can scale computing and storage resources to meet changing needs. This is particularly helpful for organizations with fluctuating needs.

Integration

An organization’s cloud servers are networked to ensure uninterrupted communication and fast deployment. A “single pane” enables complete control.

Considerations

Virtual servers vs. physical servers: Physical (bare metal) servers are best for data-intensive workloads. Virtual servers are better for highly variable workloads.

Virtualization: Cloud servers can be physical or virtual. Virtualization software options include VMware, Parallels, and Hyper-V. To learn more about virtualization, check out our video «Virtualization Explained»:

Customization: Physical servers have numerous customization options, such as more processing power, additional RAM, and backup power.

Security: Security options for cloud servers include firewalls, anti-virus software, monitoring, and host intrusion protection.

An IBM perspective: Choosing a cloud server

Kevin Hazard

IBM Cloud Platform—Infrastructure Marketing Leader

Cost vs. technology vs. provider

I’ve observed or been a part of buying decisions for a few thousand server customers, from small-business owners getting a website online for the first time to established platforms with tens of millions of visits every day. While each of those purchasers had different requirements and priorities for a cloud server, a few key deciding factors were consistent across those decisions:

How much will it cost? What configuration/technology is best? Which provider is most trustworthy?

Every website administrator has had to answer those three questions. While they seem pretty straightforward, they end up overlapping, and the buying decision starts to get a little more complicated:

The natural assumption is that everyone will choose a cloud server that falls in the «sweet spot» where the three circles overlap, but server decisions are not made in a vacuum. Completely valid hosting decisions can target every spot on that graph.

Let’s break the chart down into a few distinct zones to look at why a user would choose a server in each area:

• Zone 1: Budget takes priority over everything else.
• Zone 2: IT administrators at huge enterprises that have on-premises servers or loyal customers who do not wish to change providers.
• Zone 3: Buyers who need the fastest, most powerful, most scalable infrastructure on the market.
• Zone 4: Customers who are loyal to a provider as long as that loyalty doesn’t take them out of their budget.
• Zone 5: Users who love having the latest technology and value being able to manage it through one provider.
• Zone 6: Will choose the cloud environment that provides the best performance for their budget, regardless of the provider.
• Zone 7: Buyers who value all three of their priorities equally and can choose an environment that meets all of their needs.

A lot of transitioning happens between an initial buying decision and a follow-up decision.

Regardless of how you make an initial buying decision, when it’s time for the next cloud server, there is a new factor to take into account: you’ll probably want to grow in the same place.

Moving between providers can be a pain, managing environments between several providers is more difficult, and if servers have to work together, they’re generally doing so across the public Internet, so you’re not getting the best performance.

If you had to choose a zone that best describes your buying decision, which one would it be?

Get started

Experience how IBM servers can help you move to the cloud seamlessly.

What is cloud computing?

A beginner’s guide

Simply put, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.

Top benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources. Here are seven common reasons organizations are turning to cloud computing services:

Cloud computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting up and running on-site datacenters—the racks of servers, the round-the-clock electricity for power and cooling, and the IT experts for managing the infrastructure. It adds up fast.

Speed

Most cloud computing services are provided self service and on demand, so even vast amounts of computing resources can be provisioned in minutes, typically with just a few mouse clicks, giving businesses a lot of flexibility and taking the pressure off capacity planning.

Global scale

The benefits of cloud computing services include the ability to scale elastically. In cloud speak, that means delivering the right amount of IT resources—for example, more or less computing power, storage, bandwidth—right when they’re needed, and from the right geographic location.

Productivity

On-site datacenters typically require a lot of “racking and stacking”—hardware setup, software patching, and other time-consuming IT management chores. Cloud computing removes the need for many of these tasks, so IT teams can spend time on achieving more important business goals.

Performance

The biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure datacenters, which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient computing hardware. This offers several benefits over a single corporate datacenter, including reduced network latency for applications and greater economies of scale.

Reliability

Cloud computing makes data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity easier and less expensive because data can be mirrored at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider’s network.

Security

Many cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen your security posture overall, helping protect your data, apps, and infrastructure from potential threats.

Types of cloud computing

Not all clouds are the same and not one type of cloud computing is right for everyone. Several different models, types, and services have evolved to help offer the right solution for your needs.

First, you need to determine the type of cloud deployment, or cloud computing architecture, that your cloud services will be implemented on. There are three different ways to deploy cloud services: on a public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud. Learn more about public, private, and hybrid clouds.

Public cloud

Public clouds are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service providers, which deliver their computing resources, like servers and storage, over the Internet. Microsoft Azure is an example of a public cloud. With a public cloud, all hardware, software, and other supporting infrastructure is owned and managed by the cloud provider. You access these services and manage your account using a web browser. Learn more about the public cloud.

Private cloud

A private cloud refers to cloud computing resources used exclusively by a single business or organization. A private cloud can be physically located on the company’s on-site datacenter. Some companies also pay third-party service providers to host their private cloud. A private cloud is one in which the services and infrastructure are maintained on a private network. Learn more about the private cloud.

Hybrid cloud

Hybrid clouds combine public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. By allowing data and applications to move between private and public clouds, a hybrid cloud gives your business greater flexibility, more deployment options, and helps optimize your existing infrastructure, security, and compliance. Learn more about the hybrid cloud.

Types of cloud services: IaaS, PaaS, serverless, and SaaS

Most cloud computing services fall into four broad categories: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), serverless, and software as a service (SaaS). These are sometimes called the cloud computing «stack» because they build on top of one another. Knowing what they are and how they’re different makes it easier to accomplish your business goals.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

The most basic category of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure—servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, operating systems—from a cloud provider on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

Platform as a service refers to cloud computing services that supply an on-demand environment for developing, testing, delivering, and managing software applications. PaaS is designed to make it easier for developers to quickly create web or mobile apps, without worrying about setting up or managing the underlying infrastructure of servers, storage, network, and databases needed for development.

Serverless computing

Overlapping with PaaS, serverless computing focuses on building app functionality without spending time continually managing the servers and infrastructure required to do so. The cloud provider handles the setup, capacity planning, and server management for you. Serverless architectures are highly scalable and event-driven, only using resources when a specific function or trigger occurs.

Software as a service (SaaS)

Software as a service is a method for delivering software applications over the Internet, on demand and typically on a subscription basis. With SaaS, cloud providers host and manage the software application and underlying infrastructure, and handle any maintenance, like software upgrades and security patching. Users connect to the application over the Internet, usually with a web browser on their phone, tablet, or PC.

Uses of cloud computing

You’re probably using cloud computing right now, even if you don’t realize it. If you use an online service to send email, edit documents, watch movies or TV, listen to music, play games, or store pictures and other files, it’s likely that cloud computing is making it all possible behind the scenes. The first cloud computing services are barely a decade old, but already a variety of organizations—from tiny startups to global corporations, government agencies to non-profits—are embracing the technology for all sorts of reasons.

Here are a few examples of what’s possible today with cloud services from a cloud provider:

Create cloud-native applications

Quickly build, deploy, and scale applications—web, mobile, and API. Take advantage of cloud-native technologies and approaches, such as containers, Kubernetes, microservices architecture, API-driven communication, and DevOps.

Test and build applications

Reduce application development cost and time by using cloud infrastructures that can easily be scaled up or down.

Store, back up, and recover data

Protect your data more cost-efficiently—and at massive scale—by transferring your data over the Internet to an offsite cloud storage system that’s accessible from any location and any device.

Analyze data

Unify your data across teams, divisions, and locations in the cloud. Then use cloud services, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to uncover insights for more informed decisions.

Stream audio and video

Connect with your audience anywhere, anytime, on any device with high-definition video and audio with global distribution.

Embed intelligence

Use intelligent models to help engage customers and provide valuable insights from the data captured.

Deliver software on demand

Also known as software as a service (SaaS), on-demand software lets you offer the latest software versions and updates around to customers—anytime they need, anywhere they are.

Microsoft and cloud computing

Microsoft is a leading global provider of cloud computing services for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about the Microsoft cloud platform, our Kubernetes on Azure offering, our serverless application platform, and how Microsoft Azure compares to other cloud providers, see What is Azure? and Azure vs. AWS.