Popular servers and profiles

Explore all Intel® Xeon® servers. Enter the IBM Cloud catalog.

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Compute

C1.1x1

Compute profiles are best for moderate to high web-traffic workloads, such as workloads with intensive CPU demands, including production batch processing and front-end web servers.

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Balanced

B1.4x16

Best for common cloud workloads that require a balance of performance and scalability, balanced profiles with network-attached storage yield higher performance because resources aren’t oversubscribed.

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Memory

M1.4x32

Memory profiles are best for memory-intensive workloads, such as large memory-caching workloads, intensive database applications or in-memory and real-time analytics workloads.

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Overview

Essential performance. Lots of options.

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers on IBM Cloud Classic Infrastructure operate within our first IaaS platform and network, and they’re ideal for lift-and-shift workloads that require fast application movement within the same architecture. Spin up on demand and budget intelligently with hourly or monthly pricing and suspend billing. Reserve in advance or opt for our pay-as-you-use model. All servers feature the power of Intel Xeon processor technology.

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Looking for the latest virtual servers with advanced networking features on IBM Cloud VPC? Head this way.

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How customers use IBM Cloud Virtual Servers on Classic

People inside a server room, moving and installing servers

Web hosting

Since 2011, Drugs.com has used a combination of IBM Cloud Virtual Servers and IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers to support over 50 million patient and healthcare users per month.

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Application hosting

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers help Nanigans, a digital advertising solutions company, process billions of post-ad click events, support over 16 million daily purchase events and track over 1.5 billion user profiles.

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Machine learning as a service (ML-as-a-Service)

Water utilities can now detect unsafe water quality faster and easier with the help of unsupervised machine learning, Decision Makers, Ltd., and IBM Cloud Virtual Servers.

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Why IBM Cloud Virtual Servers

Essential performance for single-tenant or multi-tenant capacity

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Extensive billing options

Choose hourly or monthly pricing and suspend billing. Reserve in advance or opt for our pay-as-you-use model.

Provision for any workload

Choose public or dedicated servers, get “spot pricing” for dev/test applications, add GPUs and plan for maximum storage. Host a variety of workloads with virtual servers at IBM Cloud.

Global network and bandwidth packages

Deploy workloads in over 60 data centers with plenty of outbound data transfer packages from which to choose.

Key features

Differentiating options

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Varied pricing options

Choose by size or cost, by billing cycle or by capacity.

Virtual server instances (VSIs)

Get a public, dedicated, transient, reserved or host server.

Profiles

Choose a profile configuration in the IBM Cloud console.

Decision Makers Ltd

Public water suppliers must maintain everything from source to tap including storage, pipelines, treatment facilities and distribution hubs. Decision Makers Ltd uses IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers to help suppliers deliver clean, fresh water to communities.

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Resources

Get started with virtual servers

Explore security, storage and software options. Check out tutorials and more.

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How-to documentation

From provisioning and managing virtual servers to monitoring and migrating, read our how-to docs.

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API reference

More information about our API, virtual APIs, and dedicated and public virtual server usage examples.

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Virtual servers explained

What are virtual servers?

Virtual servers, also called virtual machines or virtual private servers, come with dedicated core and memory allocations. VMs on classic infrastructures are deployed to the same VLANs as physical servers, so you can spread workloads across virtual servers and bare metal servers, while maintaining interoperability. Virtual servers are customizable and scalable.

What are the network differences between virtual servers on IBM Cloud VPC and IBM Cloud Classic Infrastructure?

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers on our Classic Infrastructure operate on native subnet and VLAN networking to communicate to each other within a data center (and single pod). IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC operate with an additional network orchestration layer that eliminates the pod boundary, creating increased capacity for scaling instances.

What is the difference between virtual machines and bare metal servers?

Choosing a virtual machine or a physical machine (bare metal server) depends on your needs. Bare metal servers are single-tenant, physical servers void of virtualization software and dedicated to a single client. Workloads prioritizing performance and seclusion are best suited for bare metal. VMs best support workloads demanding flexibility and scalability.

How does a virtual server work?

Using a hypervisor on a bare metal server lets the physical machine separate its operating system and applications from its hardware, so it can split into independent VMs. Each new VM can then run its own operating system and applications independently, while sharing the bare metal server’s resources — memory, RAM, storage and so on — managed by the hypervisor.

What is a virtual server used for?

Enterprise IT administrators and users use VMs to:

  • Enable cloud computing. Run and scale different types of apps and workloads.
  • Support DevOps. Configure templates with settings for software development and testing to help streamline the DevOps toolchain.
  • Test a new operating system.
  • Investigate malware.
  • Run incompatible software.
  • Browse securely.

 

Related products

IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers for VPC

Advanced networking and performance features with dedicated and multi-tenant options

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IBM Power Systems Virtual Servers

Extend your on-prem workloads at your own pace and price point.

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IBM Cloud® Hyper Protect Virtual Servers

Control workloads that contain sensitive data or business IP.

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Getting started

Start customizing your virtual server in minutes. Create an account and get USD 200 in credits to use toward your cloud environment today.

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