Teams working on artificial intelligence projects will usually work with three main infrastructure elements, namely bare metal servers, virtual machines, and AI containers. These technologies serve different purposes and can be used in tandem. For instance, containers and virtual machines both ultimately rely on bare metal servers, though containers often run within VMs in cloud environments. This article breaks down the key differences between these three technologies and explores how they compare.
Bare metal servers are physical machines reserved entirely for one user or organization. With no resource sharing or hypervisor layer, you get direct access to resources like the CPU, RAM, storage, and network. Reduced latency, enhanced security, and complete hardware customization are some of the advantages of bare metal. But installing, configuring, and maintaining your own bare metal server can be costly. Cloud bare metal providers let you rent out a bare metal server from a data center to skip the hassle of maintenance altogether.
A cloud container packages an application with all its critical dependencies, like code, libraries, and configuration files required to run in the cloud. Containers virtualize the layers above the OS; unlike VMs, they share the host OS kernel rather than virtualizing it. This also means they run on top of an operating system and can’t communicate directly with the hardware. They’re also limited to running software compatible with the operating system that is hosting them. Even so, containers are useful as they provide isolation and can be modified with little effort. They allow teams to deploy AI and machine learning models faster and seamlessly across multiple platforms. Containers can be managed at scale using tools like Docker and Kubernetes. In addition, teams are not limited to creating containers from scratch, as there exists a huge library of pre-made containers for many common applications.
A virtual machine is a digital copy of a computer. It includes a full operating system with virtual hardware (like CPU, memory, and storage), and one or more applications running on top. VMs are hosted on a physical server and are managed by a hypervisor (like VMware, Hyper-V, or KVM).
Each VM requires its own OS which makes them much more resource-intensive than containers, but they offer strong isolation between systems. VMs are great for running multiple different operating systems on the same physical hardware or hosting traditional enterprise applications.
As with bare metal, you can access cloud virtual machines through third-party providers. Cloud virtual machines let you maximize resources while maintaining cost efficiency.
Discover key distinctions between bare metal, virtual machines, and containers and learn more about how these cloud-based technologies work.
Containers: Cloud containers are mainly designed to package and run applications predictably in the cloud. Cloud containers allow applications to be compatible with any underlying architecture, greatly simplifying application deployment.
VMs: Cloud virtual machines were intended to maximize physical hardware capacity and computing power. They make it possible to install multiple operating systems and create different environments on a single physical machine.
Bare metal: Bare metal cloud servers provide 100% of the rented server’s resources to the user, leading to consistent and stable performance. They enhance security and performance and are useful for demanding workloads like real-time processing or large data sets.
Containers: They largely rely on container engines or runtimes (like Docker). This software is a mediator between the containers and the OS. It manages system resources for the application.
VMs: Virtual machines require a hypervisor to coordinate between the guest and host operating systems. The hypervisor takes care of resource sharing so each VM can operate independently.
Bare metal: Cloud bare metal is physical hardware that you can rent and customize based on your needs. It’s basically a metal box or unit with a motherboard, processor (CPU), memory (RAM), and hard drive (storage).
Containers: Containers offer virtualization at the application level by isolating apps from each other while sharing the same OS kernel. They can be useful for tasks like continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) and cloud-native apps.
VMs: Meanwhile, VMs virtualize the entire hardware stack. This makes them better suited for running multiple operating systems on one server or for legacy or monolithic workloads. VMs can also be used to run a particular OS within a different OS.
Bare metal: Bare metal cloud servers have no virtualization layer (or hypervisor) and offer speed alongside direct hardware access with minimal latency in the cloud. Users get total control over the server with freedom to customize the OS, software and security configurations.
Containers: Since containers don’t have a full operating system, they can be much smaller than VMs. They start faster and consume fewer resources. This makes them easy to deploy and ideal for autoscaling environments.
VMs: Virtual machines are much heavier than containers. They run full OS instances, which naturally means they require more memory and tend to have a longer boot-up time. This can make VMs comparatively slower to scale, especially in dynamic workloads.
Bare metal: A bare metal server is a physical object and can’t be compared to containers and VMs.
Containers: Containers share the host operating system’s kernel, which may create a security risk for sensitive projects. Operating a container within a VM is one way to minimize security risks.
VMs: As VMs use distinct operating systems, one compromised VM won’t affect others in the same environment. This enables VMs to offer better security.
Bare metal: A bare metal cloud server has just one tenant and is controlled by a single user (or business). A fully isolated bare metal cloud server offers a more secure environment compared to a multi-tenant virtual server.
Crucial factors like security and computing power may guide your choice. However, the decision comes down to your project specifics, including your workload, infrastructure, and goals.
Choose bare metal if:
Containers may be the perfect fit when:
On the other hand, virtual machines may make more sense when:
In some instances, it may make sense to combine one or more of these technologies for a hybrid approach.
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