<metaname="description" content="Full Stack Python shows how an entire Python web application is built and deployed. Each section of the guide explains a different key concept, from the server through the Python WSGI web framework to the front end JavaScript.">
<p>The term <em>bare metal</em> refers to purchasing the actual hardware and hooking
it up to the Internet either through a business-class internet service
provider (ISP) or
<aclass="reference external" href="http://webdesign.about.com/od/colocation/a/what_colocation.htm">co-locating the server</a> with other servers. A "business-class" ISP is necessary because
most residential Internet service agreements explicitly prohibit running
web servers on their networks. You may be able to get away with low traffic
volume but if your site serves a lot of traffic it will alert an ISP's
filters.</p>
<p>The bare metal option offers the most control over the server configuration,
usually has the highest performance for the price, but also is the most
expensive upfront option and the highest ongoing maintenance. With bare
metal servers the ongoing operating cost is the electricity the server(s)
use as well as handling repairs when server components malfunction. You're
taking on manual labor working with hardware as well as the rest of the
software stack.</p>
<p>Buy actual hardware from a vendor either pre-built or as a collection of
components that you assemble yourself. Here is an
<aclass="reference external" href="http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/building-a-quad-core-server">example of a server buildout</a>. The post is a couple of years old but those are the
rough components you need to put together your own server. You can also buy
pre-configured servers from Dell or HP. Those servers tend to be in
smaller case form factors (called "blades") but are correspondingly more
expensive than putting off-the-shelf components together yourself.</p>
</div>
<divclass="section" id="virtualized-servers">
<h2>Virtualized servers</h2>
<p>Virtual private servers (VPSs) are slices of hardware on top of a larger
bare metal server. Virtualization software such as
<aclass="reference external" href="http://www.xen.org/">Xen</a> and