Cloud Servers vs. Clustered Cloud Servers: Which Should You Choose?

Applied Innovations offers two types of Cloud Servers – Cloud Servers and Clustered Cloud Servers. Cloud Servers are virtual machines that are located on a single physical server, while Clustered Cloud Servers sit on top of a cluster of multiple physical machines (also known as nodes).

Customers often ask us which type of server would be most appropriate for their particular website, so we decided to create this simple chart to outline the benefits of each type of Cloud Server:

The benefit of SAN storage is that it provides for lower down time in case of a hardware failure, or when Applied Innovations needs to run updates on the servers. With the Standard Cloud Servers, you will experience down time when the servers are being updated and rebooted, but this is typically done during non-peak hours in order to mitigate the effect.

Although Standard Cloud Servers do not feature SAN storage, the RAID-10 storage utilizes LSI CacheCade, which leverages fast, high-capacity SSDs (solid-state drives) that automatically cache “hot” data. This accelerates performance for significant reduction in I/O latency. Because of the storage difference and single server configuration, one of the main advantages of the Standard Cloud Servers is their more economical pricing as compared to Clustered Cloud Servers.

The main benefit of Clustered Cloud servers is increase redundancy and high availability through automatic failover. This is the process of transferring the virtual machines (a.k.a. Clustered Cloud Servers) on top of one physical node to another when the first fails, making it possible to keep critical systems available with minimal interruption. This is a valuable feature of the Clustered Cloud Servers.

Which type of server would be best for your business depends on several factors. Contact Applied Innovations today to learn more about each type of server and let our knowledgeable staff help you make the most appropriate decision for your specific business by calling 866-706-8691 or email us at sales@appliedi.net.