How to Choose Between Private Cloud vs Dedicated Hosting

Comparing the exact differences between private cloud vs dedicated hosting? Not sure which is right for you?

Business organizations need excellent infrastructure that is capable enough to perform complex tasks without any interruptions or delays. Every organization chooses a particular category of servers according to their business requirements. It may be a physical server, virtual server, or hybrid infrastructure setup. 

However, choosing a particular server isn’t a simple decision to make for any organization. Finding the best cost-effective tool that won't compromise on data processing quality can be difficult. Before making the decision, you should always research all advantages and disadvantages.

This article has gathered all the basic information you will need to understand the differences between private cloud vs dedicated hosting and what will work the best for you. 

What is VMware Private Cloud?

VMware Private Cloud is a web hosting service through which the resources of one or more physical servers are pooled together and then distributed across virtual machines.

Key Features of VMware Private Cloud

Here are some of the key features which VMware Private Cloud offers:

vCenter

VMware vCenter Server is an integrated management tool that allows the administration of different host servers and virtual machines through a single console application.

vMotion

vMotion is another critical feature that enables an existing virtual machine to move from one virtual server platform to another while keeping minimum interruption to the virtual machine's processing.

Thin Disk Provisioning

The Thin Disk Provisioning feature ensures that virtual machines use the particular amount of disk space that they need. It doesn't take up the extra disk space during installation.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated Hosting is a private web hosting service and is not shared with anyone else. In other words, all server resources belong to a particular client. The client has full authority and control over the configuration and setup.

Key Features of Dedicated Hosting

The key features of dedicated hosting are listed below:

Control on Choosing Hardware Components

One of the best things about dedicated hosting is that it enables you to choose between different hardware components based on your exact business goals and needs.

RAM, CPU, and Storage Options

You need to know about RAM and storage options before opting for any dedicated hosting service. You need to have at least 4GB RAM, if not more, depending upon the intended tasks. Intel processors remain the first choice for individuals, as they are designed to carry a massive workload. In addition, these processors are excellent in supporting critical applications. 

The speed and performance of dedicated hosting mostly depend on your RAM and CPU choice. Hence, the more RAM and higher the CPU's core count and clock speed, the more you will stand to gain in terms of performance.

Easy Customization and Highly Secured

Dedicated servers also provide an isolated environment, which can help competent admins reduce attack surfaces, such as loose firewalls or weak password security practices.

Access to Multiple OS Choices

Users can install various operating systems according to their business activities with dedicated hosting. Different web applications built into their business operations can also involve using a particular operating system such as Linux or Windows Server OS.

Private Cloud vs Dedicated Hosting: How to Choose

Pros of VMware Private Cloud

VMware Private Cloud has been known to be the best choice of server for many years. Here are the major pros and cons of VMware Private Cloud:

Low Budget Tests

VMware is great for testing environments and can run software testing in multiple environments.

Fast Rollback Feature

vSphere consists of a fast rollback feature. Enabled by default, it protects the host from losing connection to the server due to a misconfiguration in the network.

Adding a New Virtual Machine is Easy

Another benefit of VMware is that you can easily add a new virtual machine in less time. The interface is beginner-friendly, and individuals with basic knowledge can implement a virtual machine, which is quite impressive. Also, adding an operating system can be done in a few steps.

Cons of VMware Private Cloud

Complex Deployment

The setup of VMware is quite complex, hence having to follow several steps for the deployment. However, managed hosts such as Liquid Web can handle the deployments for you.

Expensive

Deploying a dedicated VMware Private Cloud can cost more than a single dedicated server, but for those thinking about deploying VMware in a multi-tenant environment, it can actually cost less, since you are sharing the vSAN and VMware infrastructure with other clients. 

Pros of Dedicated Hosting

Cost-Effective 

One of the major advantages of dedicated hosting is that it's quite affordable for many large-scale businesses. However, the customization upgrades can be expensive. 

Highest Security

While dedicated servers are susceptible to cyberattacks, servers do include software firewalls, and admins can also choose to add on hardware firewalls. This will help in lowering the risks of potential cyber threats.

Great Performance

You can expect great performance from dedicated servers, as they allow direct access to the hardware. 

Highest Configurability

Dedicated servers can be configured easily with no restrictions from the host due to the user's direct access to the hardware.

Cons of Dedicated Hosting

Average Scalability

Dedicated servers have great performance potential, but they are limited by their infrastructure's physical hardware and space.

Hardware Upgrade Costs

Hardware upgrades in dedicated hosting can be pricey.

Private Cloud vs Dedicated Hosting Use Cases

Here are the top use cases to consider for comparing private cloud vs dedicated hosting.

VMware Private Cloud Use Cases

Point-of-Sale Software

If you run an online business, then you may need to run several servers at one time to ensure your store is online at all times. VMware helps in keeping the POS system online 24/7 through redundant hardware.

Business-to-Business eCommerce Application

Even if you are running an eCommerce application and any of your database servers go down during queries, VMware will sustain these issues with the help of its site recovery manager feature. So after a moment of downtime, your query will continue to process like before.

Booking and Client Management Software

VMware may be ideal if you run a booking management service like an airline ticketing agency that can be accessed throughout different countries. For this purpose, you need to have a VMware server, as it will even manage and process a significant amount of bookings without crashing the website.

Dedicated Hosting Use Cases

Traditional Applications

Dedicated hosting works great for older, traditional applications and environments. You can easily transfer them to cloud solutions depending upon the business strategies of the organization.

High Level of Customization is Easy

Since every business won’t have the same requirements, you need to select a dedicated server hosting service that fulfills your specific needs. For example, if you are a professional photographer who owns a studio, your business setup needs large processors and high-quality hardware. Hence, you can choose the type of hardware for your high-resolution films, videos, and images to run on.

Making the Final Call Between Private Cloud vs Dedicated Hosting

Concluding the topic, we can say that it can be tough to decide between private cloud and dedicated hosting. However, you must make the best decision according to your business needs and goals. 

At Liquid Web, we offer VMware Private Cloud plans and Dedicated Server options. In addition, our skilled team provides 24/7/365 security and monitoring services so that you can focus on your business. Contact our team today to learn more.