What are virtual servers?

Virtual servers, also called virtual machines, are scalable and come with dedicated core and memory allocations. They’re a great option if you’re looking for compute resources that can be added in minutes, with access to features like image templates. The hypervisor is fully managed by the IBM Cloud™ and you can perform configuration and management tasks by using both the IBM Cloud client portal and the API. Virtual machines are deployed to the same VLANs as physical servers, enabling you to spread workloads across virtual servers and bare metal servers, while maintaining interoperability. Virtual servers are fully customizable when you order them, with options to scale as your compute needs grow.

When you create an IBM Cloud Virtual Server, you can choose between hourly and monthly billing. You can also choose between a multitenancy environment (public and transient) or a single-tenancy (dedicated) environment. Then, you can choose either high-performance local disks or enterprise SAN storage for your virtual machine.

IBM Cloud Virtual Server versions — classic infrastructure

Variety of pricing options

Choose public, multitenant servers for rapid scalability and cost-effectiveness with predefined sizes. Looking for more? We also offer Dedicated Hosts, Transient “spot” and Reserved.

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Can’t find what you’re looking for? Here are other compute options:

IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers

IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers are all about raw hardware, power and isolation entirely dedicated to a single customer — you. Workloads that highly prioritize performance and seclusion, like data-intensive applications and regulatory compliance mandates, are typically best suited for bare metal servers — especially when deployed over sustained periods of time.

IBM Cloud Virtual Private Cloud

IBM Cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) allows you to create your own secure, logically isolated networking space. Quickly deploy IBM Cloud Virtual Servers with Intel x86 or IBM Power® Systems processor architecture — with high-speed transfer rates. You get the security of a private cloud, with the agility and ease of a public cloud.

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IBM Cloud Virtual Servers features

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Network and bandwidth

Get unlimited inbound public- and private-network bandwidth between IBM Cloud data centers around the world, and 250 GB of public bandwidth with monthly billing. Dedicated hosts can support up to 20 Gbps of network throughput with additional configuration.

Security and compliance

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers provide 24x7 onsite security, proximity and biometric access control, and digital security video surveillance.

System administration

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers offer advanced system reporting, automated OS reloads, remote reboot and console access, and Nimsoft monitoring.

Developer tools

With IBM Cloud Virtual Servers, you also get access to IBM Cloud APIs, the IBM Cloud Development Network, digital transcoding and email delivery service.

Auto scaling

Use auto scaling to automatically grow or shrink your cloud environment and never lift a finger again to deploy additional virtual servers or cancel unneeded ones.

Varied pricing options

Choose multitenant or dedicated virtual servers for predefined sizes and costs in hourly and monthly billing cycles, multitenant transient virtual servers ("spot" pricing) for on-demand capacity at lower prices, or reserved virtual servers for guaranteed capacity to claim anytime.

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers benefits

Flexible

Get public or dedicated virtual servers and local or SAN storage. Deploy and scale with maximum workload placement. Hourly or monthly options are available, and the servers are completely integrated.

Powerful

Every virtual server is guaranteed, with no over-subscription on core or RAM.

Global

IBM Cloud offers locations around the world to meet your users where they are.

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“ IBM was pivotal in helping us work in a different way. I think we even surprised ourselves on how fast we could put the app into customers' hands. ”

Related products

Related IBM Cloud products

IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers

High-performance cloud servers configurable in hourly and monthly options.

IBM Cloud Object Storage

An unstructured data storage service designed for durability, resiliency and security.

IBM Cloud VPC

Create your own private space on the IBM public cloud by using Virtual Private Cloud to deploy application workloads. With Virtual Private Cloud you define a logically isolated network and then deploy, control and manage cloud resources, including virtual server instances and block storage.

View all IBM Cloud Infrastructure offerings

Go beyond storage. Put more IBM Cloud infrastructure products to work for you.

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Can virtual servers match your workloads? Provision a public, dedicated, transient or reserved IBM Cloud Virtual Server and explore the options.

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