What Is A SERVER And What Are the Functions of It..?

What is a Server?

Server is a computer program that provides a service to another computer programs and their users. A physical computer which runs a server programme is frequently refer to as a SERVER.  Servers perform various essential tasks and activities that is a very crucial thing of any organization's IT infrastructure. The many complex processes that take place during an activity, for example a security and authentication to billing and orders, the purchase could not take place without several powerful servers handling the load hence servers are very much important for any organisation.


Functions of Server:

The main and important function of a server is to listen in on a port for incoming network requests, and a good demonstration of this is the interaction between a Web server and browser. For a user the process is instantaneous, but when he clicks a link while surfing on the Web, several things are taking place behind the scenes like the request for the Web page is transmitted to the corresponding web server, and the server fetches and assembles the Web page and retransmits it using a protocol like HTTP, and, the user's browser receives the data, converts it, and displays the page.

 

Types of Servers

There are mainly three types of Server Hardware are as given below.

1. Tower server

It is a computer intended for use as a server that built in an upright cabinet that stands alone. The cabinet is called a tower which is similar in size and shape to the cabinet for a tower-style personal computer.

 

2. Rack server

A rack server, is a rack-mounted server and a computer dedicated server to use as a server and designed to be installed in a framework called a rack. The rack contains multiple mounting slots, each designed to hold a hardware unit secured in place with screws.

 

3. Blade server

Blade server is a server architecture that houses multiple server modules in a single chassis. It is widely used to improve system management and either self-standing or rack mounted, the chassis provides the power supply, and each blade has its own CPU, RAM and storage.

There are some common servers used by organisations are mention below.

1. Proxy server

It is a server that is called a computer, acts as an intermediary between the user's computer and the Internet and allows client computers to make indirect network connections to other network services.

2. Mail server

A mail server is a computer system that sends and receives email using standard email services protocols like the SMTP protocol that sends messages and handles outgoing mail requests.

3. DNS name

It is a program that uses HTTP to serve the files that form Web pages to users, in response to their requests. Dedicated computers and appliances are may be called as Web servers.

4. Application server

This type of server is acts as a set of components accessible to the software developer through a standard API defined for the platform itself. These are usually performed in the same running environment as their web server(s), and their main work is to support the construction of dynamic pages.

5. Active Directory Server

Active Directory (AD) is consists of several services that run on Windows Server to manage permissions and access to networked resources. AD stores data as objects and it is a single element, such as a user, group, application or device, such as a printer. These objects are normally defined as either resources like printers or computers or security principals such as users or groups.

6. DHCP SERVER

Here DHCP stands for a dynamic host configuration protocol. Which is a network protocol used on IP networks where it is automatically assigns an IP address and other information to each host on the network hence it can communicate efficiently with other endpoints. 

7. DNS SERVER

DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is the Internet's system for converting alphabetic names into numeric IP addresses for example, when a URL is typed into a browser, DNS servers return the IP address of the Web server associated with that name. 

8. Terminal Server

A terminal server is a network device that enables connections to multiple client server network systems and connect to a LAN network. Microsoft introduced this concept by releasing terminal services as a part of the Windows Server OS.

9. Print Server

It is also called as printer server, which is a device that connects printers to client computers over a network. Print server accepts print jobs from the computers and sends the jobs to the appropriate printers.

10. Real-time communication server

It is a term used for any live telecommunications that occur without transmission delays and it is nearly instant with minimal latency. RTC (Real-time communication server) data and messages are not stored between transmission and reception.

11. FTP server

It is a network protocol used to move computer files between a client and server. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is built on a client-server model architecture using separate control and data connections between the client and the server. 

12. List Server

It is a Server or a server program that handles subscription requests for a mailing list and distributes new messages and other postings from the list's members to the entire list of subscribers. 

13. Telnet Server

It is a network text-only protocol that offers bidirectional interactive communications facility using virtual terminal connection. Telnet allows connecting to a remote computer over Internet and using programs and data as if they were on your local machine.

14. Open Source Server

It is a program whose source code is made available to use or modification as users where open source software is always developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.

 

How Does A Server Works?

In Networking, Servers are named depending on what they serve. It is referred to a system which is capable of serving contents and many important things. The system may be running windows, Linux or other operating systems. Take an example, web server can be running windows, Linux or any other OS depending on your choice. After choosing the operating system for the web server then you can install the software needed for that system to be web server. 

Operating system

Operating system is interpreter between computer hardware and software.

 

Client Computer:

It is a computer in your network, where a network user is performing some network activity. Take an example as downloading a file from a File Server, Browsing Intranet/Internet etc. A network user generally uses a client computer to perform his day to day work.

Server Computer:

A client computer generate a connection to a Server computer and accesses the services installed on the Server Computer. It is not meant for a network user to browse in internet or do spreadsheet work. A Server computer is installed with appropriate OS and related Software to serve the network clients with one or more services.

An operating system is the most important set of software programs which are loaded initially into any computer-like device by a bootstrap program. OS controls all the resources in a computer, including networks, data storage, user etc.

 

Network Operating (Systems Server Operating Systems)

A Network Server computer provides its services to a group of Network Client devices which has more computing resources like Processors & Processing Power, more Physical Memory (RAM), and more Storage Space etc. The Server computer machine runs on Server Operating System, which is called as Network Operating System (NOS), and that normally has more features and processing capabilities compared with the client computer's Operating System. The server may be installed with special software to perform a function like a Server.

Most popular Network Operating Systems are listed below:

• Windows NT (obsolete)

• Windows 2000 (obsolete)

• Windows 2003 (Legacy)

• Windows 2008 / Windows 2008 R2 (Legacy)

• Windows 2012 / Windows 2012 R2 (Legacy)

• Windows 2016 (Legacy)

• Windows 2019 (Current)

• Unix (Oracle Solaris, IBM AIX, HP UX, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, SCO Unix etc)

• GNU/Linux (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian Linux, SUSE Enterprise, Ubuntu Server, CentOS Server, Mandriva, Fedora etc.

 

Most popular Client Workstation Operating Systems are listed below:

 

• Windows 95/98/ME Vista (obsolete)

• Windows NT Workstation / Windows 2000 Professional (obsolete)

• Windows XP (Legacy)

• Windows 7 (Legacy)

• Windows 8 / Windows 8.1 (Legacy)

• Windows 10 (Current)

• RedHat Enterprise Linux Desktop

• SuSE Desktop

• Ubuntu Desktop

• LinuxMint

 

How Can We Help in Server Configuration..?

As we discussed in this blog, what is server and its functionality with some important benefits and features, we come to know that it plays an important role in IT infrastructure and networking. We have already mention the some important benefits of Server Configuration. Hence to configure your server device Sancuro helps you with every important things. Sancuro, an ecommerce brand that deliver System and Network Remote Configuration Service for all IT hardware. Our Technical expertise helps you with proper information and configuration on this. To get more information you can get in touch with our Technical Expertise or simply put a Call on below no.

Or Email us at: info@sancuro.com

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