Server Clustering vs Dedicated Servers: Key Differences and Benefits for Your Business

Server clustering is an IT infrastructure architecture where multiple dedicated servers or virtual machines within a cluster work together as one system under one IP address. In this blog article, we will limit ourselves to the principle of server clustering with dedicated servers, i.e. hardware-driven clustering. Each server within such a cluster is a full-fledged physical server, equipped with its own CPU, memory, and storage. The servers in a cluster are also called nodes.

In a server cluster with dedicated servers, management is typically handled through a centralized software platform. As the administrator of such a server cluster, this allows you to monitor, manage and coordinate all servers, or nodes, within the cluster. Examples of software platforms for the purpose of server clustering are: Windows Server Failover Clustering, Kubernetes, VMware vSphere, Proxmox VE, Veritas Cluster Server, Red Hat Cluster Suite, and Apache Mesos. This provides centralized control over all the nodes in a cluster. From such a software platform, you can configure the nodes, monitor the status of the server cluster, and coordinate tasks among the nodes. In doing so, the software ensures efficient distribution of workloads, proper resource allocation, as well as implementation of failover procedures.

In a server cluster, one of the nodes may be designated as the control or management node responsible for monitoring the entire server cluster. In more advanced cluster configurations, these management responsibilities can potentially be divided among multiple nodes to avoid a single point of failure. This can further improve the reliability and robustness of a server cluster. Thus, an organized management approach to such a software platform can ensure efficient cooperation of server resources within a server cluster.

There can be various reasons for choosing a server clustering architecture that includes multiple nodes (dedicated servers). The main reasons are: increasing the availability/uptime of (web) applications; distributing workloads through the principle of load balancing; and realizing a high performance server environment. We will discuss this in more detail below.

Dedicated Server Uptime and SLAs

Normally, the availability or uptime of a single dedicated server depends on several factors. The hardware quality for example can affect the uptime, with high-quality server components providing better continuity. Timely technical maintenance of the server also plays a role. As does a robust data center infrastructure and server cooling, and a redundant power supply for the installed server. In addition, a solid connection with redundant network infrastructure will also benefit the uptime of a dedicated server, as well as robust security including firewalls and DDoS protection.

An IaaS provider like Worldstream is capable of guaranteeing a 99.99% (!) uptime for its customers by default. That’s a rather high uptime score. Could the server uptime be even higher? Given the various components and factors that affect the uptime of a dedicated server, as described above, deploying a dedicated server anywhere virtually never gives you a 5 nines or 100% uptime assurance. Unless you set up a highly resilient server cluster for your (web) applications.

An appropriate Service Level Agreement (SLA) may ensure that as a dedicated server user, you get strong guarantees when it comes to the uptime of the underlying server infrastructure for your (web) applications and databases, as is the case with Worldstream. However, one can imagine scenarios in which even the smallest amount of downtime of a (web) application is highly undesirable. In these cases, as a dedicated server user, you may take server clustering into consideration to eliminate single points of failure. With clustering, IT workloads are distributed while other servers can take over compute tasks if a server in the cluster fails.

High Availability vs Load Balancing

Achieving the very highest availability levels for dedicated servers and the (web) applications running on them is thus an important argument for applying server clustering. A second reason for installing a server clustering architecture is for the purpose of load balancing. Thanks to the principle of load balancing, workloads are distributed among several servers while traffic bottlenecks on a single server are avoided. Hence, the concept of server clustering offers the ability to achieve much higher processing speeds for the workloads running on these servers.

The difference between server clustering and other methodes of load balancing is that in server clustering, multiple servers are combined through clustering software to function as a single entity under one IP address, whereas in load balancing through the use of a (software- or hardware-based) load balancer, the various servers act as stand-alone entities and the load balancer transfers connection information from the source/client initiating the connection to the available server destination. Load balancers thus act as an independent function between application users and a pool of servers.

Server clustering and load balancing through software- or hardware-based functions each have their own advantages. Typically, server clustering is able to provide the very highest availability and fault tolerance for (web) applications. It also typically allows for better performance by allocating resources in parallel. A pure load balancer on the other hand can offer efficiency, scalability and flexibility. Resource requests can be distributed evenly across different servers via this method, while the load distribution is flexibly adjusted as traffic patterns change.

When it comes to load balancing functionality and a comparison to using pure load balancers, server clustering tends to be a somewhat more expensive option. It can also be a bit more complex; because the servers used must be compatible; because the cluster must maintain software consistency and integrity; and because hardware resources are shared as one entity. Compared to server clustering, on the other hand, using a pure load balancer may provide lower availability and fault tolerance because a load balancer may experience outages. So, whether server clustering is an option for the purpose of load balancing is a matter of the application and the specific requirements for the method of load balancing.

Server Clusters for High Performance

High performance computing (HPC) or supercomputing, also including strong storage capabilities, can be the third motivation for utilizing server clustering. HPC workloads could run just fine on a single server with the right high-end specifications. However, by using multiple dedicated servers in a cluster and working together in parallel within a bundled entity, it becomes possible to maximize the potential of high performance computing applications.

Within such server clusters, the various servers can work together to perform complex computations for various HPC applications, including scientific and research, real-time streaming, healthcare, finance, and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios - where speed and accuracy are crucial. Each server within such a high-performance computing cluster makes a contribution to the collective whole in terms of computing power, memory and storage capacity. By having the servers work together as one entity, an HPC server cluster is able to perform more demanding tasks than an individual server could.

Storage servers in an HPC-focused server cluster can allow for efficient access, storing, and management of massive data volumes. Clustered storage servers can process and store the input/output (I/O) operations required for the computational tasks performed on the other servers within the cluster, enhancing performance and reliability. Clustered storage servers can also be utilized to implement data protection mechanisms to ensure the highest integrity and availability of data in an HPC workload. The type of servers to consider for these HPC workloads are usually those with high capacity and fast I/O capabilities, such as servers equipped with NVMe or SSD drives, and possibly configured with RAID for redundancy purposes.

Server Clustering at Worldstream

Worldstream was founded in 2006 by childhood friends who shared a passion for gaming. Worldstream has evolved into an international IT infrastructure (IaaS) provider. Our mission is to create the ultimate digital experience together with you and our partners. If you have questions about the server clustering options at Worldstream, visit this page for further details or get in touch with Worldstream’s engineering staff to receive custom server clustering guidance. Backed by our global backbone and the Worldstream Elastic Network, you can also deploy a virtualizatized server cluster with ease using the hypervisor of your choosing.

As an IaaS solutions provider with a global backbone, Worldstream offers ample opportunities for IT service providers and MSP’s alike to professionally shape a portfolio for both upcoming and enterprise IT architectures. These solutions are building blocks for emerging service providers. For example, Worldstream offers secure cloud on-ramps from the data center to well-known American public cloud providers (e.g. Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud). This variety of infrastructure solutions are perfect for integrating managed services where colocation plays a significant role. Next to dedicated servers and server clustering, these solutions include:  private cloud, file storage,   block storage, object storage,  and  colocation.  Also, our proprietary   WS Cloud public cloud platform, powered by Virtuozzo open-source technology, provides a cost-effective European cloud alternative.

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