What Is a Server? The Role of 10 Common Server Types

Did you know? An ordinary computer can store data for one person, but it is very hard to use one to run and manage a company's whole information system. To run a company smoothly, you need to know the concept of a server. Read on to find out what a server is in this article from Mona Media today.

What is a server?

A server is a computer connected to the Internet, with a a static IP and very high processing power. Specialists install software on the server to serve other computers. In simple terms, a server provides resources for a whole system of computers.

So what is a server used for?

A server is also a computer, but its features, processing power and data storage are many times larger than an ordinary computer's. It is used to process and store data within a computer network or across the whole Internet.

Is a server important?

Yes. Servers are the foundation of services on the Internet. Any Internet service, such as running a website, an app or a game, has to go through a server to operate.

How servers came about

You may have heard of servers, but you may not know where they came from. The term server comes from an algorithm “Black-box” and “Queue”. It is the algorithm that processes input data and returns results to the user.

Here is a timeline of how the server was formed and developed:

• 1981 – The first server computer appears, letting users collaborate by email
• 1991 – The web server called WWW is born, with a 256MHz CPU and a 2GB hard drive
• 1994 – The first rack-mounted server appears. It has an Intel Pentium II Xeon 450 MHz processor, 256MB of RAM and a 24X CD-ROM.
• 1998 – Servers become the foundation for the birth of Google.
• 2001 – The first modern blade server appears. HP later bought the RLX technology in 2005.
• 2008 – The PS3 cluster appears, with built-in networking.
• 2009 to the present – Cloud servers and “virtual” servers appear and grow with virtualization technology.

The different types of server

By how the system is built, servers fall into 3 types: Dedicated Server, VPS and Cloud Server.

The details are as follows:

• Dedicated Server also called a dedicated physical server, is a server that runs on its own hardware and supporting equipment: HDD, CPU, RAM and network card.
• VPS also known as a virtual server, is a server created using virtualization technology. It is split off from a dedicated physical server into other virtual servers, and those virtual servers have features similar to a physical server. They also share resources from the physical server.
• Cloud Server also called a cloud server, is a server that combines several physical servers with a SAN storage system.

By function, servers fall into 7 common types:

• Database Server: Database servers
• File Server: File storage servers (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive)
• Mail Server: Professional mail servers (Gmail, Yandex, etc.)
• Print Server: Print servers, commonly used in a company's small network
• Web Server: Web servers, which serve shoppers (for example Shopee, Amazon) and store news for readers.
• Game Server: Game servers (for example for Roblox, LOL, Liên Quân, etc.)
• Application Server: Application servers (for example to run CRM or ERP software; an Application Server is sometimes also understood as a server that provides mail, files, database, website)

The role of a server

Overview of the role

A server stores data, processes it and delivers it to workstations 24/7 for users or a business, through a a LAN or the Internet.

It stores and runs a business's software. The business then only needs to optimize the server hardware, without investing much in individual workstations.

For individuals, a server also plays an important role as a component that stores and runs a system's data. For example, businesses such as Internet also need a server so they can connect to other workstations.

The role of a server in detail

Table of server roles

That is the detailed information about servers – what a server is. We hope this article on servers from MONA Mediahas helped you understand more about what a server is, how servers came about, and their role in the Internet experiences we use.

See also:

• Server rental service – root-access servers, high quality
• Professional server management service