Servers with SSD storage

As early as the year 1956, the computer giant IBM released the world’s first mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) with rotating magnetic discs. Since then, the basic principles of magnetic storage disks have changed very little. What has changed are the demands now placed upon the mechanical components of this technology. Instead of its original capacity of a modest 5 megabytes, today’s HDDs require storage capacities of multiple terabytes in order to keep up with ever increasing data loads. Over the years, the access time of these mechanical storage plates has failed to keep up with these demands. While the performance aspects of most computing matters, like processing power or system bus speed, have increased many times over in recent decades, standard magnetic storage disks are slowly but surely reaching a performance bottleneck of sorts. This situation is making it increasingly difficult to process more and more data at faster rates, and experts predict that conventional hard drives will soon abdicate their dominant position to alternative storage systems. What’s fueling this change is that the highly promising successor to this model, the flash-based solid-state drive (SSD), is already well in the works. For servers, using SSD storage is no longer considered to be an approach relegated to the fringes of the IT world. This is due in part to the recent arrival of more affordable options on the market, but also because of an increased number of read and write accesses. What’s more, the durability of SSD storage devices has also been adjusted to match the standards of those found on traditional hard drives.

SSDs are great solutions for both mobile devices as well as home computers. They’re also becoming popular for use as web server components. And there’s both performance as well as energy efficiency reasons as to why these modern flash storage devices are beginning to replace traditional HDDs for use in data centers. The performance difference between SSDs and traditional HDDs becomes especially clear with regard to webhosting-related topics. This is why an increasing number of providers are choosing to either outfit their data centers with SSD servers or upgrade their server’s mechanical devices with SSD components. In this process, data that normally isn’t accessed very often remains stored on conventional hard disks. More current data requiring a highly efficient storage management system is saved on the server’s SSD. It’s recommended to switch to a server with SSD when applications like databases, CRM, or merchandising systems are to be sped up.

Accelerating databases

Servers with SSD storage are able to reduce access time more than tenfold. This advantage is especially important for in-and-output-intensive applications (i.e. when information is simultaneously accessed and registered). This is why databases like MySQL or MariaDB use SSDs. Quicker access to databases is particularly important for websites that are run by complex content management systems, like WordPress or Drupal. The reason for this is because all content elements, themes, and plugins are stored and accessed in databases. While traditional storage devices are increasingly running into problems with these tasks, servers with SSD once again are able to display their strengths by accelerating website structure. This latter point is not only valued by site visitors, though; Google also honors such performance features. Under certain conditions, those operating e-commerce platforms are rewarded for their upgrades with a better ranking and a better conversion rate. Microsoft Exchange Server is a good example of the technical advantages that SSDs offer for servers: the collaborative software is often used by working groups or businesses to send messages, appointments, or contact information. This format also involves storing all information in one or more databases. The more complex the communication structure is, the more important it becomes to ensure a stable transfer of data, to help clients seamlessly synchronize information.

SSD cloud servers

SSDs are also experiencing gains in popularity with cloud computing. New web hosting concepts connect multiple physical SSDs to virtual storage platforms, also known as storage area networks (SAN). Virtual servers hosted this way benefit from the fact that this model features almost complete hardware redundancy. Data filed on virtual server platforms is never located on one single physical hardware component; instead, it’s distributed throughout multiple hard drives. As a result, the data’s integrity and availability is always protected should hardware components experience outages or defects.