4 ms·

> installing the web server on bare metal, On top of a Linux distro is not what people usually call bare metal

by ekianjo 2y ago

reassess_blind 2y ago
I've heard it called bare metal as opposed to a docker container or VM.
- ekianjo 2y ago
  This is the Wikipedia definition which is the same thing as I said. If it's on top of an OS, it's not bare metal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine
  - reassess_blind 2y ago
    Yeah, you're correct by the original definition - but in the modern context of Docker/k8s and web servers, "bare metal" is being colloquially used to refer to installing directly on the bare OS, and people understand that.
mharig 2y ago
I found that today "bare metal" is used equivalent to "non-cloud". I think this is pathetic.
ad133 2y ago
Maybe it is, these days? As much as I appreciate all the functionality brought to us by these tools, when I started web-dev circa 2005, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL + PHP) was the go-to for hobbyists. As much as I look back at the simplicity (Apache config was not that difficult for a small site, at least with Apache 2.0), the part of me that operates production software these days gets anxiety the idea of it all. And yet, when I wrote a small website to host my wedding website last year, it was indeed Linux, (some webserver), Postgres and PHP, with me copying files manually to FTP. It was probably nginx but you know what, I paid a company £50 for a large amount of storage, bandwidth, a domain and SSL certificate, for year, and everything went dandy. Horses for courses and all that.
justin66 2y ago
I'm sure 100% of the people who read that comment understood what it meant.
Dalewyn 2y ago
However many layers of abstractions deep you are, please try and get yourself out of there. The air down there ain't good for ya.
rednafi 2y ago
Yeah. I used it for a lack of better term. But you get the idea.
- handity 2y ago
  It is the correct term
  - ekianjo 2y ago
    It is not https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine
    - handity 2y ago
      Now that's just goofy, I get why they have similar names but it's begging for misunderstandings. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-metal_server https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-metal_server
      - Joeboy 2y ago
        Can't remember the name (if it has one), but there's a linguistic phenomenon where words take on opposite meanings from the original. The "Peacemaker" was a missile, "literally" now means "figuratively", "awful" used to mean "awe-inspiring". And apparently "bare metal" now means "runs on an operating system".
        Gormo 2y ago
        OTOH, technical fields develop jargon specifically as a solution to the problems created by semantic drift in vernacular vocabulary. Sure, languages evolve, but that doesn't mean "anything goes" -- to the contrary, novel mutations have to survive intense selection pressures in order to eventually become part of the standard language. Where new ways of using existing terms create ambiguity and conflict with existing meanings, their survival chances aren't always great.
    - 2y ago

> installing the web server on bare metal, On top of a Linux distro is not what people usually call bare metal

reassess_blind 2y ago

I've heard it called bare metal as opposed to a docker container or VM.

ekianjo 2y ago
This is the Wikipedia definition which is the same thing as I said. If it's on top of an OS, it's not bare metal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine
- reassess_blind 2y ago
  Yeah, you're correct by the original definition - but in the modern context of Docker/k8s and web servers, "bare metal" is being colloquially used to refer to installing directly on the bare OS, and people understand that.

mharig 2y ago

I found that today "bare metal" is used equivalent to "non-cloud". I think this is pathetic.

ad133 2y ago

Maybe it is, these days? As much as I appreciate all the functionality brought to us by these tools, when I started web-dev circa 2005, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL + PHP) was the go-to for hobbyists. As much as I look back at the simplicity (Apache config was not that difficult for a small site, at least with Apache 2.0), the part of me that operates production software these days gets anxiety the idea of it all. And yet, when I wrote a small website to host my wedding website last year, it was indeed Linux, (some webserver), Postgres and PHP, with me copying files manually to FTP. It was probably nginx but you know what, I paid a company £50 for a large amount of storage, bandwidth, a domain and SSL certificate, for year, and everything went dandy. Horses for courses and all that.

justin66 2y ago

I'm sure 100% of the people who read that comment understood what it meant.

Dalewyn 2y ago

However many layers of abstractions deep you are, please try and get yourself out of there. The air down there ain't good for ya.

rednafi 2y ago

Yeah. I used it for a lack of better term. But you get the idea.

handity 2y ago
It is the correct term
- ekianjo 2y ago
  It is not https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_machine
  - handity 2y ago
    Now that's just goofy, I get why they have similar names but it's begging for misunderstandings. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-metal_server https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-metal_server
    - Joeboy 2y ago
      Can't remember the name (if it has one), but there's a linguistic phenomenon where words take on opposite meanings from the original. The "Peacemaker" was a missile, "literally" now means "figuratively", "awful" used to mean "awe-inspiring". And apparently "bare metal" now means "runs on an operating system".
      - Gormo 2y ago
        OTOH, technical fields develop jargon specifically as a solution to the problems created by semantic drift in vernacular vocabulary. Sure, languages evolve, but that doesn't mean "anything goes" -- to the contrary, novel mutations have to survive intense selection pressures in order to eventually become part of the standard language. Where new ways of using existing terms create ambiguity and conflict with existing meanings, their survival chances aren't always great.
  - 2y ago