what is a server?

[ryan2109]

hi i was wondering what is a server used for and what can you use a server for.

[kyber]

A server serves things. You have servers in restaurants, they serve you the food (and are also know as waiters/waitresses).

In the context of the internet, a server responds to a user application such as a web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer) by serving it a stream of information in a format that it can understand. The http at the beginning of web addresses is short for hypertext transportation protocol. A web sever and your browser communicate using the same protocol (just as we expect diplomats from different countries to communicate using an agreed protocol).

A server in this context is of course a computer running an operating system (such as Unix, Linux, Windows, etc.) and one or more server applications that support various protocols. Apache, for example, is a very popular free web server that is used for probably the vast majority of the internet. A web server serves web pages (mostly written in html - the hypertext markup language that the browsers understand) which are just files of information (actual content or information about how to present that information on a screen).

Another popular protocol is FTP - file transfer protocol - which is used to share lists of files and support the transfer of selected files to/from your PC.

Most ecommerce websites rely on a database to hold details of all of the products sold, prices, descriptions etc. On all but the smallest sites, the database will run on its own server, a database server, and the web server will communicate with it when it needs some database information to return to a user's browser.

There are also servers to serve continue video, radio or music feeds. The BBC use such serves to stream live versions of their radio and tv news stations over the internet.

If you want to know a little more about getting a website up and running, take a look at my most at the top of this forum section.

Does that help?

Stuart

[Spire]

Hi

Well as far as I know a server is a piece of software which is used to serve clients with for example web site pages or manage emails etc, normaly this software would be run on a dedicated computer because of the heavy load that it may be put under such as thosands of web page requests, so for example this forum may well be run on a dedicated computer which is then often reffered to as the server, but if u are developeing web sites for example that need servers then u can run the software to provide the server on your own machine.

If I have it wrong some1 will know doubt correct me.

[Stationery-Direct]

For an example of a server that doesn't work at the moment, take a look at my website :-(

[Richard]

hi i was wondering what is a server used for and what can you use a server for.Ryan, in its basic form a server is just a hard disc on someone else's computer. A place where the electronic data that will display on a PC is located. :wink:

When you open a word file on your PC, you're being 'served' the file by you PC. Similarly, you and many others can open a file on a remote computer at the same time over the internet.

Richard

[ryan2109]

thank you all for your help in me understanding what a server is it has really help me