What is Server?

In information technology, a server is a computer or device or computer program that provides services to other computer/device/programs within the network. It manages the network resources and provides multiprocessing facility. This article describes a overview of server. Summary of the article:

• What is a server?
• Types of Server

What is a server?
Server is a computer that serves information to other computers. This computers are called clients and the can connect to a server through either a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet.
We can also say, Server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs (and their users) or its own.

Types of Server
Based on functionality there are many types of server. Some common server list is given bellow:

• Application Server
  An application server is a program that handles all types of application related operations between users and backend business applications of a company or databases. It is also called apps server or middleware. This server is normally used for complex transaction-based applications.
• Mail Server
  A mail server is an application that receives incoming e-mail from the same domain or others and forwards outgoing e-mail for delivery. A computer dedicated to such applications is also called a mail server. Generally it contains a storage area where e-mail is stored, a database for user accounts, communications modules that handles the transfer of messages to and from others address. Some common mail server programs are: Microsoft Exchange, Exim, sendmail,qmail, etc
• Proxy Server
  A proxy server is a computer that acts as an intermediary between a web browser and the Internet. It helps to improve the web performance by storing a copy of frequently used web pages. When a browser requests a webpage, it looks in its storage (local cache) and if available delivered to the user. If the page is not in the cache, it acts a client and collects the page from the internet and finally returns to the user. Proxy server also helps to improve the security by filtering out some web content and malicious software. Generally these servers are used by the organizations or companies. Typically, home users are not use a proxy server.
• Game Server
  A game server is a system which is used to run multiplayer computer games over the Internet.
• Print Server
  A print server is a computer system that can process print related activities on a network.
  It manages the printers that are connected to the network and the printing of the user documents. It is also called network printer.
• File Server
  A file server is a computer system that provides a centralized data storage on a network.
  It manages the data files so that other computers on the same network can access the files. Typically a file server is configured only to send and receive files. They may also be configured to distribute data over the Internet using FTP, SFTP, and HTTP.
• Database Server
  A database server is a program that holds and manages the database.
  It is the back-end portion of a database application that follow the traditional client-server model. It provides data storage, data manipulation, data analysis, archiving, and other non-user specific tasks. Some common database servers are: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, DB2, etc
• DNS Server
  A DNS server is a system that translates domain names into IP addresses. A DNS server contains special purpose networking software, a database of network names and addresses for other Internet hosts.
• Fax Server
  A fax server is a computer which is dedicated to transmitting, receiving, and distributing faxes over a network. It contains a fax program, a fax modem, a connection to a telephone line or internet, and connections to the LAN users.
  Fax messages can be stored as printable word documents, database, graphics, or spreadsheet files. After Scan a documents can be sent as fax messages.
• Web Server
  A web server is a computer program that that delivers the content or services (web pages) to end users over the Internet. It uses client/server model and HTTP protocols. It contains a physical server, operating system and software that provide HTTP communication.
  Every Web server has an IP address and an optional domain name. Two leading Web servers are Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS), Apache. There also some others web server like: Novell’s, Lotus Domino, etc. Every computer that contains a Web site must have a Web server program. A single web server can support more than one websites and a single website may be hosted on several linked or mirrored web servers.

Server makes our tasks easy. It reduces investment cost. Backup system is an important part of any server system. It is recommended to keep data backup of the server regularly.