Introduction: The Storage Decision That Changes Everything
Here’s a mistake that costs hosting customers thousands of dollars per year: choosing the wrong storage architecture for their workload. Local NVMe offers blistering speed — we’re talking 5,000+ MB/s and sub-100 microsecond latency. Network block storage offers flexibility — snapshots, resizing, multi-attach, and live migration. But you can’t have both in most hosting environments. Or so the conventional wisdom goes.
RakSmart breaks this trade-off. Their platform offers both local NVMe on every compute node and a high-performance network block storage layer that rivals local performance for most workloads. And through RakSmart’s current promotions, you can test both architectures at 50% off VPS or 30% off dedicated servers.
This blog will give you a storage engineer’s framework for deciding which option — or combination — is right for your specific applications. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to configure RakSmart’s storage to maximize performance without overpaying.
Part 1: Local NVMe — The Speed Demon
What it is: NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives connected directly to the server’s PCIe bus. No network hops. No storage controllers adding latency.
RakSmart’s local NVMe specs:
- Interface: PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 (depending on server generation)
- Sequential read: up to 7,000 MB/s (PCIe 4.0) or 14,000 MB/s (PCIe 5.0)
- Random read IOPS (4K): 1,000,000+
- Latency: 80–120 microseconds
Best for:
- High-frequency transaction databases (financial trading, gaming leaderboards)
- Real-time analytics (clickstream processing, IoT data ingestion)
- Video rendering scratch disks
- Any workload where consistent sub-millisecond latency is non-negotiable
Limitations:
- Tied to a single physical server. If that server fails, data on local NVMe is inaccessible until the server is repaired.
- Can’t be resized without migrating to new hardware.
- No built-in snapshots (you must configure your own backup solution).
Real-world performance on RakSmart local NVMe
A RakSmart customer running a Redis cache cluster on local NVMe measured average read latency of 110 microseconds — that’s 0.00011 seconds. The same workload on a SATA SSD took 450 microseconds. For real-time bidding systems or multiplayer game backends, that difference determines whether you win the auction or lose the player.
Part 2: Network Block Storage (Ceph/RBD) — The Flexible Workhorse
What it is: Block storage volumes stored on a separate cluster of storage nodes, accessed over the network via iSCSI or Ceph RBD. Each volume appears to your server as a local disk, but lives on redundant storage hardware.
RakSmart’s network block storage specs:
- Backend: Ceph (BlueStore with NVMe SSDs)
- Replication: Triple by default (three copies across three fault domains)
- Max volume size: 10 TB per volume (can attach multiple volumes)
- Snapshot support: Yes, instant crash-consistent snapshots
- Live migration: Yes, volumes can move between compute nodes without detaching
Performance on RakSmart:
- Sequential read: 500–800 MB/s (depends on network load)
- Random read IOPS (4K): 50,000–80,000
- Latency: 500–1,500 microseconds
Best for:
- Web servers with moderate traffic
- Development and staging environments
- Database replicas (where absolute speed is less critical)
- Any application requiring snapshots or volume resizing
Limitations:
- Higher latency than local NVMe (5–15x slower)
- Performance can fluctuate during cluster rebalancing
- Additional cost per GB (usually 2–3x the cost of local disk allocation)
Part 3: RakSmart’s Unique Hybrid Architecture
Most hosts force you to choose: local NVMe or network block storage. RakSmart gives you both on the same instance.
Here’s how it works on a RakSmart VPS or dedicated server:
- Boot volume: Always network block storage (20 GB default). This allows live migration, snapshots, and resizing of your OS disk.
- Secondary volumes: You can attach additional network block storage volumes as needed.
- Local NVMe cache: RakSmart automatically uses 10% of local NVMe as a read cache for your network block storage volumes. Frequently accessed blocks are promoted to local NVMe, giving you near-local latency for hot data.
- Ephemeral NVMe: For workloads that need absolute speed but don’t require persistence (swap, temp files, scratch disks), you can mount the remaining local NVMe as ephemeral storage that resets on reboot.
This hybrid approach means you get the flexibility of network storage (snapshots, resizing, HA) with performance approaching local NVMe for active data.
Benchmark: RakSmart Hybrid vs. Pure Network Storage
| Metric | Pure Network Block Storage | RakSmart Hybrid (with NVMe cache) | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg read latency (hot data) | 1,200 µs | 180 µs | 6.7x faster |
| 99th percentile latency | 3,500 µs | 450 µs | 7.8x faster |
| Throughput (cached reads) | 800 MB/s | 3,200 MB/s | 4x higher |
Part 4: Decision Framework — Which Storage Should You Choose?
Use this flow chart in text form:
Step 1: Does your workload require sub-200 microsecond latency consistently?
- Yes → Choose local NVMe (or hybrid with large NVMe cache)
- No → Go to Step 2
Step 2: Do you need snapshots, resizing, or multi-server attach?
- Yes → Choose network block storage
- No → Go to Step 3
Step 3: Is your workload mostly reads with a working set under 100 GB?
- Yes → RakSmart hybrid (let the NVMe cache work for you)
- No → Local NVMe
Step 4 (tiebreaker): What’s your budget?
- Tighter budget → Network block storage (but watch performance)
- Performance priority → Local NVMe
RakSmart-Specific Recommendation Matrix
| Application | Recommended Storage Config | Why |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress / WooCommerce | Hybrid (20 GB network boot + 50 GB NVMe cache) | Caching handles most reads |
| MySQL with 10 GB database | Local NVMe (100 GB) | Entire DB fits in fast storage |
| MySQL with 500 GB database | Hybrid (500 GB network + 200 GB NVMe cache) | Hot indexes cached locally |
| Video encoding scratch | Ephemeral NVMe only | No persistence needed |
| Development VM with snapshots | Network block storage only | Snapshots are critical |
| High-availability cluster | Network block storage with multi-attach | Two servers share same volume |
Part 5: Cost Comparison on RakSmart (With Promotions)
Prices shown are after applicable discounts (use code VPS50 for 50% off VPS or DEDICATED30 for 30% off dedicated servers).
VPS Plans (50% off)
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Local NVMe | Network Block Storage (add-on) | Promo Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPS Small | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | N/A | $9.99/mo |
| VPS Medium | 4 | 8 GB | 160 GB | N/A | $19.99/mo |
| VPS Large | 8 | 16 GB | 320 GB | N/A | $39.99/mo |
| Add network block storage | — | — | — | $0.10/GB/mo | — |
Dedicated Server Plans (30% off)
| Server | CPU | RAM | Local NVMe | Network Block Storage | Promo Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated 1 | Intel E-2388G | 32 GB | 2x 1 TB NVMe | Optional | $139.30/mo |
| Dedicated 2 | AMD EPYC 7313 | 64 GB | 4x 2 TB NVMe | Optional | $279.30/mo |
| Dedicated 3 | Intel Gold 6438N | 128 GB | 8x 2 TB NVMe | Optional | $559.30/mo |
Cost-saving tip: If your workload is read-heavy (e.g., static assets, cached database), start with network block storage and let RakSmart’s automatic NVMe cache do the work. You can always add local NVMe later if performance isn’t sufficient.
Part 6: Real-World RakSmart Customer Storage Configurations
Case Study 1: E-commerce Platform (Peak Traffic 10k concurrent users)
Challenge: Database latency spiked during flash sales, causing cart abandonment.
Solution: Migrated MySQL to RakSmart dedicated server with 4x 2 TB local NVMe in RAID 10. Kept static assets on network block storage with aggressive caching.
Result: Database query latency dropped from 45ms to 4ms at peak. Zero abandoned carts in the next three flash sales.
Case Study 2: CI/CD Pipeline for Dev Team (20 developers)
Challenge: Build times took 12 minutes because of slow I/O on network storage.
Solution: Moved build artifacts and temp files to ephemeral NVMe on RakSmart VPS. Kept source code and build caches on network block storage for snapshots.
Result: Build time reduced to 3 minutes. Developers save 9 minutes per build × 20 builds/day = 3 hours of productivity recovered daily.
Case Study 3: Video Production Agency
Challenge: Need temporary high-speed storage for active projects, but long-term archival with snapshots.
Solution: RakSmart bare metal cloud with 4 TB local NVMe for active project scratch. Nightly rsync to 10 TB network block storage with 30-day snapshots.
Result: Editors see full NVMe speed during work hours. Production can roll back any file to any of the last 30 days.
Part 7: Promotional Details — Test Both Storage Types at Low Risk
RakSmart wants you to find the right storage architecture for your workload. These promotions make experimentation affordable:
| Promotion | Discount | Best for testing… | Promo Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60% Off VPS (New Users) | 60% first 3 months | Network block storage performance | VPS60NEW |
| 50% Off VPS (All Users) | 50% first 6 months | Hybrid NVMe cache effectiveness | VPS50 |
| 30% Off Dedicated Servers | 30% first 12 months | Raw local NVMe speeds | DEDICATED30 |
| 35% Sitewide | 35% first term | Any storage configuration | RAKSMART35 |
Recommendation for new users: Start with the VPS60NEW promotion on a medium VPS. Configure it with the default hybrid storage (20 GB network boot + NVMe cache). Run your workload for 2 weeks. If you need more speed, upgrade to a dedicated server using DEDICATED30 and add local NVMe volumes.
Conclusion: Storage Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
The debate between local NVMe and network block storage is usually framed as a binary choice — speed versus flexibility. RakSmart rejects that framing. Their hybrid architecture, available across VPS, dedicated servers, and bare metal cloud, gives you both: local NVMe speeds for hot data and network storage flexibility for everything else.
With current promotions offering up to 60% off for new VPS users and 30% off dedicated servers, you can afford to experiment. Test local NVMe for your database. Try network block storage for your development environment. Let RakSmart’s automatic caching surprise you.
Stop compromising on storage.
Leave a Reply