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Difference Between Cloud Server and Web Server

2025-03-28

This document explains the functional and conceptual differences between a Cloud Server instance and a Web Server within the Carpathian platform.

1. Cloud Server

A Cloud Server is a virtual machine (VM) instance provisioned within the Carpathian hosting platform.
It represents a full compute environment where the user has root-level access and can configure the machine to run any workload.

Key Characteristics

  • Purpose: General-purpose compute resource (similar to a DigitalOcean Droplet or AWS EC2 instance).
  • Operating System: User chooses the base image (e.g., Ubuntu).
  • Flexibility: Can host multiple applications, databases, services, or even custom networking setups.
  • Networking: Connected to the Carpathian virtual private cloud with isolated internal IPs, plus external routing through secure gateways.
  • Use Cases:
    • Running application backends
    • Hosting databases
    • Container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
    • Development/testing environments
    • Specialized workloads (AI/ML, simulations, etc.)

Essentially, a Cloud Server VM is your own server in the cloud, not tied to a single application.

2. Web Server

A Web Server is not a separate machine, but rather a service configuration that uses one of your existing Cloud Servers to serve websites or web applications. Carpathian automates the setup so your server can be securely reached over the internet.

Key Characteristics

  • Purpose: Automates the deployment of SSL, Apache (or WordPress), and sets up networking/routing to make your Cloud Server publicly accessible.
  • Configuration: Automatically integrates with Carpathian’s NGINX/Apache provisioning, domain management, and SSL certificate handling.
  • Routing: Tightly integrated with Carpathian’s DNS and reverse proxy system for domain-to-IP mapping.
  • Use Cases:
    • Hosting websites
    • Serving web applications
    • Running APIs with secure HTTPS endpoints
    • Deploying client-facing portals
  • Simplification: Users don’t need to manually configure reverse proxies, SSL, or firewall rules—these are handled by the platform.

Bottom Line

A Web Server uses one of your existing Cloud Servers and automates the networking, SSL, and domain setup so it can safely serve content on the public internet.

3. Choosing Between Them

  • If you need general-purpose compute for custom workloads, databases, or applications that aren’t necessarily web-facing, provision a Cloud Server.
  • If you need your workload to be accessible via the internet, configure a Web Server on top of your Cloud Server.

Currently, users do not have direct access to Carpathian’s internal networking layer. For security and simplicity, Carpathian automates the Web Server setup and teardown process.