Cloud Server vs VPS vs Dedicated Server - Pros and Cons

Today, more and more workloads are moving from Capex to OpEx Model. So if you are considering a move to Opex, then the next question would be how?  What should be your Platform? You will also come across some Key technologies that you should understand.

Virtual Private Server ( VPS)

As the name suggests, VPS usually involves having a  Virtual Machine ( VM) on a server that you will use for your application. And how does a Data Center give you a VM?  They will have one Server, where they will set up, say a Windows Data Center Edition, and then spin a VM as per your needs and offer the same to you. Along with you, on the same hardware, they will spin VMs and offer them to other customers also. So essentially there will be multiple VMs on that hardware, and one of the VMs will be used by you.

A VPS does not give you the scalability and fault tolerance as compared to the Cloud. Hence, in my opinion, the days of VPS are numbered. So as a Customer, you should avoid a VPS and look at other, more elegant Solutions.

Pros:  Low cost; root access on the server

Cons: Lack of elasticity and fault tolerance; high time to provision

Dedicated Server

With a Dedicated Server, you can host your application on Bare Metal. So essentially you get a dedicated machine for your application. This gives you good raw power. It also gives you complete control over the hardware since the complete server is used only by your application.

Pros: Complete control on Server resources; complete flexibility of use; full power of server available for your application

Cons: Higher cost as compared to VPS; lack of elasticity and fault tolerance; high time to provision

Cloud Server

In the World of today, Cloud is a way to go. And there are many reasons.

Pros: Provisioning time is very low; adding and removing resources is on the fly; Excellent backup and Disaster Recovery capability; highly scalable; Platform as a Service option adds to the ease of management; availability to handle Big Data with Analytics

Cons: Cost can go high if resources are not used and monitored judiciously; limited access to Server to understand the advantages

So if you are considering the move to OpEx, clearly your first choice should be CLOUD. Only if in rare circumstances, the Cloud does not fit the bill, should you consider other options?

Contributed by: Suresh Ramani, CEO, TechGyan