What is a “Server” Anyway?
If you have ever wondered about this mysterious and intimidating device before, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. In fact, most people have no idea what a server really is or how it is used. Even if the term is in their vocabulary, they may still be completely clueless.
In a nutshell, a server is just a regular computer on steroids. They are typically used to hold a large amount of data that are accessed by multiple users or computers. They have all of the same components that a regular computer has, but are designed to operate 24/7 in a performance-demanding environment that can fluctuate greatly.
In a business setting, servers can be used to hold a company’s e-mails, business documents that are shared between employees, or databases that house valuable business tools. Probably one of the most common ways in which servers are used is in hosting websites. In fact, the entire internet is built on a interconnected network of servers. Every time you look at a website, you are simply accessing files that are located on a server somewhere on the global network.
Servers are designed to allow multiple users, who are all preforming slightly different tasks, to connect to them at once . For this reason, they tend to be more expensive than your average computer and to need an increase in performance so as to carry out multiple simultaneous tasks. In addition to performance, they typically have a variety of different redundancies to make for minimal downtime. These redundancies can include: built-in backup power supplies, multiple hard drives that mirror each other in the event that one crashes, and monitoring software to insure maximum up time.
So the next time you are talking to someone regarding servers, don’t be intimidated, and remember to focus on performance, redundancy, and reliability.
- Greg Moser