What are the advantages of virtual machine over hardware one ?

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Posted by VerdinaNET, 09-12-2016, 12:46 PM
I know i has the same functionality but can't figure out what are the main reasons people use them so much.
Posted by Nnyan, 09-12-2016, 01:18 PM
Your question is just too wide and broad. There are some instances where having bare metal dedicated to a function is preferred over a VM. Having said that typically a VM is a good way of getting a slice of a server without having to get a full server. In a production environment VM's are a great tool to consolidate servers and have better server utilization. It's much faster to spin up a VM then to build up a physical server, etc...
Posted by madRoosterTony, 09-12-2016, 01:36 PM
Anyone that uses a single VM on a dedicated server is typically doing so for quick OS reloads and full server backups. But you do take a performance hit, so unless you need that, its just not worth it.
Posted by Adrian Andreias, 09-12-2016, 02:37 PM
Besides what @Nnyan and @madRoosterTony said, you can have N VM's on a physical server each with: its own operating systemroot/Administrator rightsisolated from a security point of view from other VM's Vertical scaling is also a matter of simple reboot (and sometimes not even a reboot is needed). This is not that useful for one or a few physical servers and a few VM's. But with many VM's being able to lower resources for one machine and and higher resources for another is a great advantage. VM's empower companies to have identical technology on development, staging and production environment (amount of RAM, CPU etc. will differ), which is a recommended development best practice.
Posted by mhostingin, 09-12-2016, 02:49 PM
in vm your resources are share in dedicated you have dedicated resources, and you always get better performance in compare to vm. and better security in dedicated server in compare to vm.
Posted by SenseiSteve, 09-12-2016, 03:27 PM
I think a lot has to do with price and management. Quite often it's easier to find a decent managed virtual machine versus a managed hardware one - with a good spec to price ratio. Another reason is simply matching hosting requirements - a lot of people simply don't need a hardware one and consider that overkill.
Posted by NGRhodes, 09-12-2016, 07:14 PM
Certain configurations and budget limits can easily allow virtual machines to be the more performant option. What do you mean by better security ?
Posted by BoomHost-Kumar, 09-12-2016, 10:06 PM
Recovery time and minimizing the overall downtime. It is a lot faster to recover a VM from a backup to a fully working condition (provided a good and solid backup solution is already in place with full/incremental backup methodology) than you have to spend the time recovering a dedicated server. Also, having the ability to take a snapshot of VM before making any changes to it is a gift for many sysadmins.
Posted by net, 09-12-2016, 10:51 PM
No, not really. If you have many websites, it is good to split it to different VM if you want to add some layer of security. But this doesn't mean dedicated server is bad already. It depends on how you secure the server whether it is dedi or vm.
Posted by Adrian Andreias, 09-13-2016, 04:08 AM
If a physical server is split between multiple tenants (different companies/customers), yes there is a slightly higher security risk. Because if there's a hypervisor exploit available one can "get out" of a virtual machine and gain root access to the host system. Which means you'll have access to all virtual machines. But this exploits are really rare. You just need to weight the pros and cons. Amazon must be running some really sensitive applications as well on their XEN VM's. If it's good enough from Amazon, it's good enough for you. You clearly wouldn't run a banking application in a VM next to a shared hosting reseller VM on the same physical server.
Posted by Ermak, 09-13-2016, 04:51 AM
What are the advantages of virtual machine over hardware one ? depends on which type of user you are. For "not admin" users VM has only pluses: Hardware and Virtualization layer aren't your headache. You response only for OS and upper layer (such as App and so on). Security isn't minus for you because provider staff can configure security better than you For "admin" users: Hardware and Virtualization layer aren't under your control but you must response for OS and upper layer (such as App and so on) rely on hosting provider. You can't fine-tune hardware and virtualization. In this case some admins looking for good VPS hosting provider (where ISP can change something according user needs) and others rent dedic or buy own hardware. Anyways if you have hardware you must think about spare parts, collocation place, internet channel, etc. For some individuals that's plus for some minus (look above) IMHO
Posted by vps_newbie, 09-13-2016, 10:53 AM
Speaking only for myself as a VPS customer, it is price. I get the benefits of a server on the internet without paying the price of dedicated hardware. Your entry-level dedicated server costs 69 euros per month. My three VPSs cost less than 4 euros each. I will be the first to state that my VPSs do not offer the performance of your entry-level dedicated server, but I don't need the performance of a dedicated server. It would be a waste of resources (and my money!). If you are asking about the benefits of virtualization over dedicated hardware at work and home, then the reasons are too many to list, but I don't think that is your question.
Posted by VerdinaNET, 09-13-2016, 10:55 AM
I understand that i can have Vm's with different os, admin rights and s.o. Reading all the replays i think of Vm as price to performance matter mostly ?
Posted by vps_newbie, 09-13-2016, 10:59 AM
Not for me. My requirements are so modest that I get sufficient performance at a low price point. The price/performance ratio may be high for the low-end VPSs that I use, but as long as I have unused performance overhead available, I don't care. Price wins.
Posted by Adrian Andreias, 09-13-2016, 12:45 PM
I'd summarize it like this: More than the versatility of a dedicated server for a fraction of the cost.
Posted by VerdinaNET, 09-14-2016, 10:12 AM
It's your personal choice.
Posted by vps_newbie, 09-14-2016, 11:23 AM
Of course it is. Everyone looks at their requirements and finds the best fit for those needs. Let me be blunt. I believe that this entire thread is about advertising your dedicated servers via your signature line. What have you learned that you didn't already know?
Posted by VerdinaNET, 09-14-2016, 11:50 AM
Let me be honest with you. I do represent company for dedicated servers but does that mean that can't learn more about vitual ones ?
Posted by Victor R, 09-14-2016, 11:51 AM
Such a question sounds strange from a dedicated provider. Especially when you could be the one benefitting the most from consolidating your hardware resources, while passing the price benefit to your customers and making them happy in the process. There are many tech events here in Sofia, you may want to visit some and chat with the folks.
Posted by vps_newbie, 09-14-2016, 12:02 PM
Of course. Everything should be a learning opportunity. Despite your weak assertion that you want to learn about virtual servers, I still believe that the primary intent of this thread is to be a sneaky way to advertise dedicated servers to a pool of VPS users. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but c'mon, you gotta expect most people to see through the disguise. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, so we should agree to disagree.
Posted by VerdinaNET, 09-14-2016, 12:33 PM
I understand your points of view. Maybe i should have started this tread in another section or just talked to s.o. as Victor said. Have no intention to argue with anybody. If it is not appropriate lets close it and i'll find my answers elsewhere. Peace
Posted by wartungsfenster, 09-14-2016, 05:52 PM
Examples that *can* matter, depending on the host one choses: No downtime live migration and hw upgrades. Being able to snapshot the whole VM Better performing disk setup
Posted by CeltriiX, 09-18-2016, 09:40 AM
VPS's and Dedicated servers are good for different things, for example if I owned a company that sold Web hosting, I would buy a dedicated server because it would allow me to install multiple VM's and therefore i would be able to host multiple websites through that dedicated server. If i was managing a small business such as an online shop then i would buy a VPS, I wouldn't need a whole server to store a website because it would cost too much and be complete overkill. However if that business was expanding fast they i might want a dedicated server so i can expand without having to migrate. I'd possibly need more space for a magento database for example. In this case i would buy a dedicated server for security purposes no matter what size the bank is, the reason for this is because if any information was to be leaked, it would violate so many laws that the company would just be crushed. when you buy a VPS you usually have to share a line, it might be 1GBps or 10GBps it doesn't matter. If someone is running a large online business (with a large client base) on that server they could slow you down. Some hosts limit the upload and download speed, again this could slow you down. By purchasing a dedicated server you are usually will get the full line and if not a good amount of it. Also some if not all hosts don't limit dedicated servers, this means that you can handle more clients/customers on your site at a time. I hope this helps, Alex

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