ᐅ What is a server and what is it for? [basic explanation]

They have been with us for many years and are used daily by companies and individuals. Most people believe that they only serve to host information, but there are more purposes that we will tell you throughout the post. So, if you want to know what a server is and what it is for, stay with us.

Index of contents

What is a server?

Perhaps, a server cannot be defined so easily because it is a word that has two meanings: one related to hardware and the other to software.

Hardware. The server, understood as equipment, is a machine made up of high-performance PC components and integrated into a network. It is often called " host " or host because it is used to store or "host" information. Software. It is understood that it is a kind of platform that offers a service in which a client can make use of the server through a local connection or the Internet. As for the local connection, we could find VPS servers, shared servers such as hostings, other servers that make NAS (cloud) all connected by the internet and that you can buy their resources.

In short, we can say that it is a computer that houses information and that serves to respond to the needs of a user, such as entering a website, storing data or creating platforms. Being on 24/7.

The operation of a server is based on the client-server system , whereby the server is a data center and the client is a user who wants to access it. In this way, the client makes a request and the server gives a response.

This would be an example in a house with a NAS.

What is a server for?

A server can respond to different purposes, from operating as a server for a video game platform , to hosting a web page to operating as remote storage. It can be used for many different things.

In fact, we can find dedicated servers that provide different services, not just one in particular. In fact, companies partition servers so that the same server can provide 50 different and independent cloud services. After all, it is a machine exploited by companies.

Server types

As we have said before, there are many purposes. For this reason, we can find different types of servers that focus on a specific service because "whoever covers a lot, little pushes". We found the following.

Server for web pages

Its main mission is to save, organize, structure and deliver web pages to clients = web browsers (Chrome, Opera, Safari, Edge / Explorer, Mozilla). They work as follows:

Client contacts the server requesting access to a web page. The client communicates using HTTP or. The server transmits HTML documents, like everything in them: applications, images, scripts, extensions, etc. The client receives those HTML documents, allowing them to view the entire web page.

Storage server

It is the most traditional and basic use of a server: storing data. To understand well how they work, we give you an example.

A server company offers a hosting service to customers and companies that consists of selling storage space: 5 GB, 10 GB, 100 GB, etc.

Typically, servers are equipped with one or more processors, tons of RAM, and more than 10 hard drives. So when they sell us 5 GB, they don't really sell us a server, but they rent us a space inside that server.

For example, if a server has 12 4TB hard drives it is 48TB. So, if we offer each client 1 TB for € 15 / month, we are selling the same to the remaining 47 clients. Therefore, companies rent space to clients who need it.

For a moment, you may have imagined the money you can make. Following that surreal offer, we would earn € 720 for each server that we manage to rent completely. These companies usually have hundreds of servers, so imagine how much money they can make per month.

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Database server

The purpose of this type of machines is that certain programs can access databases that are found on the network. Here is a very powerful market, in which companies like Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server are the queens.

Video game servers

Do you like Minecraft ? Counter-Strike ? Although the culture in which the clans rented a Counter-Strike server has declined in the second, Minecraft has a very powerful market for video game servers.

In this case, they are servers that host an online game or platform. In the case of Minecraft, the server hosts a map to which various users connect to play in multiplayer. Therefore, it is used for a group of friends or a group of users to play on the same map at the same time.

DNS servers

Do you hear the famous Google DNS ? Well, these servers enable the translation of a domain to an IP. Domains are shortcuts to IPs because humans would not be able to memorize more than 2 web pages. Therefore, names are used.

So, users (clients) enter amazon.com (making a request) and DNS servers have to translate “amazon.com” in their IP to respond to the client by letting them enter. Depending on how fast they work and how far they are from us, we will access the website sooner or later.

Cloud servers or cloud servers

They are one of the most demanded solutions today and they try to offer personalized servers to the needs of the clients. They are characterized by having enormous flexibility and scalability because the size can be increased as the company also grows.

Its main feature is the technology with which they work, achieving a tremendously fast response.

Final words and conclusion about servers

As you can see, the world of servers is exciting and quite complex, although we have explained it very briefly. There are many more types of servers, but those are the most used.

We recommend our article about our best public and private DNS servers

Have you ever rented or hired a server? What experience do you have with the world of servers?