Yes, this also happens, the second scenario I've mentioned. But I've heard about moving away from virtual servers specifically, or only using those for the hig

Yes, this also happens, the second scenario I've mentioned. But I've heard about moving away from virtual servers specifically, or only using those for the highly elastic parts when the load fluctuates a lot. Bare metal is simply so much cheaper in the long run, if you know how to work with it. Yes, it's rigid in terms of provisioning, but it's the baseline (all clouds and VPSes have bare metal underneath) so it gives the best bang for the buck.