Teachnically,What is Computer server mean?

Question

I encounter the word SERVER but honestly I don't know the real meaning in technology term.

Answer 1

In information technology, a server is a computer system that provides services to other computing systems—called clients—over a network. The term is most commonly applied to a complete computer system today, but it is also used occasionally to refer only to the hardware or software portions of such a system.

Servers occupy a place in computing similar to that occupied by minicomputers in the past, which they have largely replaced. The typical server is a computer system that operates continuously on a network and waits for requests for services from other computers on the network. Many servers are dedicated to this role, but some may also be used simultaneously for other purposes, particularly when the demands placed upon them as servers are modest. For example, in a small office, a large desktop computer may act as both a desktop workstation for one person in the office and as a server for all the other computers in the office.

Servers today are physically similar to most other general-purpose computers, although their hardware configurations may be particularly optimized to fit their server roles, if they are dedicated to that role. Many use hardware identical or nearly identical to that found in standard desktop PCs. However, servers run software that is often very different from that used on desktop computers and workstations.

Servers should not be confused with mainframes, which are very large computers that centralize certain information-processing activities in large organizations and may or may not act as servers in addition to their other activities. Many large organizations have both mainframes and servers, although servers usually are smaller and much more numerous and decentralized than mainframes.

Servers frequently host hardware resources that they make available on a controlled and shared basis to client computers, such as printers (print servers) and file systems (file servers). This sharing permits better access control (and thus better security) and can reduce costs by reducing duplication of hardware.

Answer 2

Server has its clients. It administrators them. It may provide them with user name and password and some rights too. A server shares it resources with all its clients. It has a powerful proceesor which works at great speed. It may be understood as a head of the network of computers working as clients under him.

Answer 3

Simple.
The computer that serves the web requests is server computer.
Example: Where is facebook? Facebook is on a server computer. Where you send a request to facebook, the server computer response to your request

Answer 4

Dude above just copy and pasted from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_%28computing%29

He should be citing his source...