Servers

A server is computer device that provides services to other computers in a network environment. These could include shared resources like files and storage space, software applications, emails, or even time servers.

A cloud server is a kind of server that is deployed in the cloud, and is accessible through the internet. This could be physically located in a data center, or distributed among several servers to function as one server. The cloud servers are usually hosted in huge Data Centers, where various parameters like temperature, power connection and internet are provided to ensure that the servers run perpetually, making servers accessible to use all over the world.

Most users opt to hire cloud servers from cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services and CloudPap, instead of buying own servers which are expensive to buy and maintain on a small scale. The different forms of cloud servers that are commercially leased include the following:

1. Virtual private servers

These are servers which are sold as a service, as opposed to dedicated machine. This means that a user getting this service gets a specified storage space, memory and processing power that is software defined and can be adjusted easily as the need comes.

2. Dedicated servers

Dedicated servers are servers that are not shared with someone else, and the user has control of the hardware to use and operating system to install. This requires technical knowhow on server management and operations because little technical support is offered, and the user has full control of the whole server.

3. Bare metal servers

These are servers that are single tenant, and users have the whole hardware to themselves. They are rigid in terms of changes that can easily be made to their features, and a client needs to acquire and manage the relevant software needed to run the server, as well as routine maintenance.