Bare-metal server
A bare-metal server provides exclusive physical compute hardware. Clarify who manages the application, operating system and recovery.
What is a bare-metal server?
A bare-metal server is a physical server whose compute hardware is dedicated to one customer. IBM describes its offering as a dedicated server provisioned without a hypervisor. A hypervisor is software that divides hardware into virtual computers. On suitable hardware, the customer can later install their own virtualisation.
Google lists direct processor and memory access and running your own hypervisors among the use cases. Platform services and supported features vary by offering. The term alone does not specify who looks after the operating system, application or backups.
Example: a specific hardware requirement
In the fictional example, measurement software APP-62 needs to read processor performance counters directly and run on the exclusively allocated physical server BM-62. The team records which hardware feature the application needs, whether the offering provides it and who restores the system and data. The identifiers are our own placeholders.
An exclusive server can also host several of the customer’s applications or virtual machines. This does not automatically make it resilient to failure. Compare performance against the actual application load and clarify how the service covers hardware replacement, updates and recovery. The name provides no general speed or security guarantee.
Sources
Related terms
- VirtualisationVirtualisation provides software with a simulated environment. For servers, a hypervisor allocates physical resources to separate virtual machines.
- Virtual machineA server VM runs a guest operating system. The operating model must clarify who handles the application, access and maintenance.
- Return-PathReturn-Path records the SMTP reverse path in a header. It explains the technical route for error reports, not a person’s identity.
- Envelope-FromEnvelope-From identifies the SMTP sender for transport and error feedback. It must be distinguished from the visible sender address.
- DMARC aggregate reportA DMARC aggregate report summarises a reporting mail system’s domain checks over a period. It helps examine sending sources and misconfigurations.
- DMARC policyA DMARC policy describes the requested handling of failed domain checks. It repairs neither sending sources nor their alignment.
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