Server

Server

In most common use, a server is a physical computer (a computer hardware system) dedicated to run one or more services (as a host),[1] to serve the needs of the users of other computers on a network. Depending on the computing service that it offers it could be a database server, file server, mail server, print server, web server, gaming server, or some other kind of server.

In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients". The clients either run on the same computer, or they connect through the network.

Server rack

Server Room

The term server is used quite broadly in information technology. Despite the many server-branded products available (such as server versions of hardware, software or operating systems), in theory any computerized process that shares a resource to one or more client processes is a server. To illustrate this, take the common example of file sharing. While the existence of files on a machine does not classify it as a server, the mechanism which shares these files to clients by the operating system is the server.