Uses Of Server

The main uses of a server are:

• File Server (English file server) is used for storing and sharing files. The files placed in the mass storage server can be handled simultaneously by multiple clients;
• The print server is used as an intermediary between a set of clients and a set of printers. Each client can send documents to print to printers connected to the server;
• Server database is used to store and manipulate data contained in one or more databases and shared between multiple clients;
• The mail server is used to store and transmit electronic mail. The outgoing mail is sent to the recipient’s server. The mail arrived is stored on the server and is searchable by the client;
• The web server stores and manipulates the pages of a Web site and transmit the request to the client (see web browser);
• The game server will and follows the evolution of a game and it brings together different players in a multi-player online games;
• The application server is a generic term for a server that performs the processing of one or more software application to client / server architecture;
• The proxy receives applications, control, and then transmit them to other servers. It can be used to expedite the processing of applications, or enforce regulations filtering (censorship, privacy, etc.)

Example of use on the Internet: Google web application works with about 15,000 servers to low-end divided into clusters of 40 to 80 servers in various centers of data processing in the world.

Self-hosting is for an individual to use his personal computer as a server, and make it available through his personal internet connection. The user avoids costs due to a contract with a web host. It may well have its own web server (LAMP, WAMP, etc.) and, using a dynamic DNS (in), having its own domain name. Furthermore, some hosts allocate a fixed IP address. These are subject to a surcharge.

Server Hardware

A server is a computer designed to respond to requests via a network. Miscellaneous assemblers and manufacturers such as HP, Sun and IBM sell computers optimized for this purpose.

These are typically high-end machines designed to serve many clients simultaneously. The machines are equipped with a powerful processor or multiple processors, memory and hard disk speed, high capacity, and of course, consists a network interface.

The servers run without intervention, 24 hours out of 24, 99.9% of the time. The average length of stay of servers varies between 36 minutes and 10 hours per year.

The servers can be mounted in rack 19 inches, which allows stacking. They can be equipped with devices preventing failures and loss of information, such as RAID devices: the information is copied onto multiple hard drives in order to avoid irretrievable loss in case of failure of a hard disk.

The consolidation of multiple servers in a cluster can be apportioned, and ensures that customers are served even in case of stopping a server.

A Network Attached Storage is a turnkey appliance, designed as file server. There are also devices turnkey print servers.

The servers are sometimes connected to storage networks: a set of servers is connected by a fiber network to a set of hard drives. The storage battery hard drive is divided into partitions divided between servers.

An appliance server software can run multiple servers simultaneously and to serve many users simultaneously. A server is often manipulated, and the keyboard and the screen (if any) are used primarily for maintenance, repair and control.

A database server (in 2008) has an electrical power of 200 W with an estimated power consumption of all computer servers to about (for example) 450 TWh to France and 4,000 TWh for the United States.