Server

What is the meaning of a server?

The meaning of a server: A server is a computer configured to serve its stored data to other computers known as clients through network connections. Connecting to a server requires either a wide area network (WAN) or local area network (LAN) protocol. When a client computer requests for resources, such as web pages, images and media files, the server scans itself to find the location of the resources, and if available, it will return them to the client. For example, when you connect to a server using a web browser, you can access some files stored on it, as long as the preset permissions allow for such requests to be made.

There are several types of servers in use today, but the most popular ones are web servers, FTP servers and mail servers. It is important to note that a single computer can have all the three server software installed on it, if the hardware is adequate enough to accommodate all of them.

A web server is a type of server designed to supply web pages, graphics and media files to the user agents that request for them. Typically, most web servers have the capability to interpret server-side scripting languages like ASP, PHP and Python before returning them to clients as ordinary HTML files.

An FTP server is used for uploading and downloading files to and from web servers. An example is after you sign up with a web host, you surely need a way to transfer your newly-designed website from your local computer to the hosting company’s web server. FTP servers utilize a protocol called File Transfer Protocol to make uploading your files possible. Likewise, if you need a local copy of your files stored on the web server, File Transfer Protocol makes that possible too. FTP programs are commonly used for communicating with FTP servers for uploads and downloads of files. The most popular FTP software in use today are FileZilla, CuteFTP, SmartFTP and the built-in FTP program in Adobe Dreamweaver. An FTP server requires user authentication, when connecting to it – it will prompt you for your username and password. However, if your connection is anonymous FTP-enabled, then authentication might not be necessary.

A mail server is a type of server designed to make possible sending and receiving of addressed messages. Mail servers use a protocol called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to enable web users send email messages to other people with email addresses.