Definition of a computer server: what you need to know
Computer servers are the nerve center of any IT infrastructure, regardless of where they are hosted (on-premises or in the cloud).
The definition of a computer server includes various complex pieces of equipment that enable the orchestration of all of an organization's digital services, whether it is a business or a public entity. Understanding how a server works and its specific features is essential for optimizing network performance. The goal is to ensure business continuity!
What is a computer server?
A server is a kind of supercomputer, specifically designed to provide services, resources, or data to other machines in the network, called clients. More generally designed to manage, store, process, and distribute information, data, and services, it plays a pivotal role in the computer network.
Thus, defining a server goes beyond the single notion of equipment, which is too simple at first glance, and encompasses the entire IT ecosystem.
Centralization of processing, storage of critical information, and access management—all these rules and security policies are centralized via the server. A server therefore operates in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to ensure complete and uninterrupted service availability.
The core feature of a server is its ability to simultaneously process multiple requests from remote clients. This client-server architecture allows resources to be shared and optimizes the overall performance of the information system. Unlike a personal computer, a server prioritizes reliability and performance over user ergonomics. It incorporates redundant components, advanced cooling systems, and high-performance storage solutions. Unlike a personal computer, a server prioritizes reliability and performance over user ergonomics. It incorporates redundant components, advanced cooling systems, and automated monitoring mechanisms to effectively prevent failures.
Types of computer servers
Physical server vs. virtual server
A physical server is ultimately a dedicated machine with its own hardware components.
Like a computer, a physical server has a processor, memory, and storage units. There are generally two types: physical servers, which are usually found in IT rooms, and virtual servers, which predominate in IT infrastructure environments.
The digital revolution did not begin with the IoT and AI, but with the consolidation of physical infrastructures by bringing virtual servers to the IT market, which contribute significantly to the modern IT ecosystem and promote “Green IT.”
In a data center, we find both physical and virtual servers.
Physical servers: These are dedicated machines with specific hardware resources such as processors, memory, and storage disks. They are designed to run applications and services autonomously, thus offering maximum performance. Companies have complete control over physical servers, allowing for full customization of hardware and software configurations. Physical servers offer a higher security level because they do not share resources with other users. This reduces risks of vulnerability and attacks.
However, physical servers also have high acquisition and maintenance costs, and their scalability remains limited. Finally, managing them requires technical expertise and dedicated human resources to ensure their monitoring (upgrades and fixes).
Virtual servers: Commonly referred to as virtual machines (VMs), virtual servers are software instances that emulate a physical server. Multiple virtual servers can run on a single physical server thanks to virtualization technology, which allows hardware resources to be intelligently divided among several isolated environments.
The growing digital needs with the advent of IoT and AI, aligning speed, quality, and scalability, are met by virtual servers. In short, virtual servers offer flexibility and easy scalability. Customers can quickly add or remove VMs as needed, without requiring additional hardware. The use of virtual servers reduces infrastructure costs by optimizing the use of existing hardware resources. In addition to reducing costs, they simplify management and, although they share the same hardware resources, VMs are well isolated from each other, which ensures that vulnerabilities are often isolated.
The processors are particularly advanced and benefit from multiple cores and very high RAM, enabling them to handle the most sophisticated uses with AI and IoT. This approach ensures performance and isolates critical applications. This solution is favored by various players, particularly in sectors such as finance (FinTech, banking) that require guaranteed access to the most fundamental resources.
Running multiple VM servers on the same physical machine is greatly facilitated by virtualization. This technology achieves a dual objective: boosted hardware utilization and lower costs for the virtualized environment. This approach, consolidated by UltraEdge, is permanently implemented in our IX data centers and Edge data centers.
We can cite containers, for example Linux containers (LXC), which are widely used with virtualization. Much lighter than full virtual machines, their kernel is shared with the host OS. This approach, made popular by Docker and Kubernetes, facilitates complex application deployment. It is greatly appreciated for increasing portability between environments!
What type of servers should you choose?
Choosing between physical and virtual servers, or even a mix of both, depends on the company's strategy, application requirements, and IT budget. When a physical server is suited to particularly intense workloads, with maximum performance to be achieved and full control of resources, it is a dedicated solution for critical databases, highly sophisticated computing applications, or rare industrial systems.
However, virtualization is suitable for most use cases and is a more than credible alternative due to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
The major advantages include consolidating a multitude of services with less physical equipment, drastically reducing the costs associated with purchasing new hardware, maintaining IT equipment, and energy consumption.
Managing peak loads and integrating business continuity plans is also made easier.
Finally, it is possible to adopt a hybrid approach, combining one or more physical servers with virtual machines. This directly optimizes performance while reducing costs. With the explosion of AI-powered microservices, containerization is consolidated with this hybrid solution, particularly for complex applications that are often demanding in resources.
Computer server: what is it made of?
Hardware
The processor is strategically important because it is the core of the server architecture and orchestrates all operations and their smooth running.
Servers incorporate a number of electronic components such as processors and RAM disk storage, which previously had limitations given the evolution of digital demand. Today, manufacturers have understood the need for innovation, flexibility, and scalability in environments and have set the market alight with more compact and powerful systems (servers). Today, manufacturers have understood the need for innovation, flexibility, and scalability in environments and have transformed the market with more compact and powerful systems (servers). New servers feature very powerful processors to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. Brands such as HPE, Lenovo, Dell, and Cisco are significant players in this market, thanks to architectures optimized to manage peak loads. Hardware virtualization and accelerated encryption are among the highly specialized features of these high-performance processors.
Very high-performance network card connectivity is ensured, with speeds exceeding 100 Gigabits per second. The dedicated processor integration optimizes network packet processing with redundant power supplies and liquid cooling or other advanced cooling systems. This ideally complements the hardware for 99.99% reliability for UltraEdge data centers!
Software
The operating system or server OS represents the software foundation, and applications rely on this software. Examples include platforms such as Windows Server, Linux (Red Hat, Ubuntu Server), and Unix. Each system has its own advanced features, which enable better resource management, security policies, and monitoring tools that are not available on desktop devices.
In this way, business services and applications are, in a way, the server's vocation. While a web server can run Apache or nginx, a database server hosts MySQL, Oracle, or PostgreSQL, for example.
This layer of specialized software exploits the characteristics of the server hardware and optimizes performance over the long term. In this respect, the hypervisor acts as a specific software layer that enables virtualization while directly managing the various hardware resources.
Day-to-day automation on the server side is greatly facilitated by monitoring and administration tools. Increased performance monitoring and early or even proactive detection of anomalies can trigger automated corrective measures. Examples include Nagios, SNMP, and Zabbix, which enable maximum availability of the most critical services or applications.
Rack server: definition and features
What is a rack server?
Rack servers are at the very core of modern IT infrastructure. Better known as rack-mounted servers, they are computing units designed to be housed in a cabinet called a server rack. These types of servers optimize space in data centers by stacking vertically. A rack server is designed to fit into a 19-inch wide rack. This definition of a rack server correlates to a standardized format that optimizes space utilization in each server room.
One or more rack units (1U = 44.45 mm in height) significantly increase the density of installations. In a data center, a standard 42U rack can accommodate up to 42 1U servers!
This modular approach effectively optimizes infrastructure management. The modernization of data centers offers hosting solutions that allow IT equipment to share cooling and power resources. The various servers share the rack's power supply, cooling, and network connections. The structure with mounting rails optimizes organization and makes it easy to remove a server, particularly if there is a specific failure, without affecting other related equipment. Installation and maintenance costs are significantly reduced.
Rack servers incorporate specific features such as remote management via BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) cards. These interfaces allow you to monitor and control the server even when it is turned off. Optimized ventilation ensures efficient cooling in confined spaces where thermal density can sometimes be critical.
Differences between rack, tower, and blade servers
Servers are the fundamental components of your IT environment. The type of server you choose for your business is essential to the productive operation and optimization of your current technology and any future growth. Generally, there are three types of servers: blade, tower, and rack.
A tower server is similar to an oversized desktop computer and is designed to operate completely independently. They have their own power supply, dedicated cooling system, and isolated connectivity. This design is not found in large installations and is more commonly offered in environments with few space constraints. Although their modularity can facilitate hardware upgrades, the projected footprint of a tower significantly limits scalability. As a result, we are seeing them less and less on the market.
A blade server pushes miniaturization to its limits, sharing multiple components within its chassis. It centralizes power supply, cooling, connectivity, and in some cases, storage. This approach maximizes computing density, but creates extreme dependence on the chassis. Any failure of a shared component potentially affects multiple servers simultaneously.
Each format meets specific needs. Tower servers are suitable for SMEs with a few servers. Rack servers dominate medium and large installations such as those of hosting providers or data centers thanks to their balance between density and flexibility. Blade servers are ideal for high-density environments where every square centimeter counts, such as intensive computing centers.
Key uses of servers
1. Web hosting
Web hosting is unsurprisingly one of the most recognized applications of IT servers.
The advantage of these dedicated machines is they store the files that make up websites and process incoming requests from visitors. The web server's efficiency will depend on its ability to handle thousands of connections at the same time while maintaining optimized response times. Players such as Apache and Nginx offer hosting solutions optimized for peak loads.
Caching is almost always integrated by default on hosting servers and speeds up content delivery. Solutions with Redis for complex installations ensure the temporary storage of the resources most frequently called upon by RAM. Caching minimizes the load directly called upon by the database and optimizes the user experience. Finally, CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) complement this architecture by bringing content closer to end users, independently of their location.
2. Email management or mail server
Mail servers are central to an organization's electronic communications, whether internally or externally with its customers or service providers.
Receiving messages, storage, filter management, and distribution to specific channels with advanced rules. Solutions in this category include Microsoft Exchange, Postfix, and Zimbra. With cyberattacks such as phishing and ransomware increasing, email servers are implementing complex anti-spam rules and advanced encryption features, which maximize the security of exchanges.
High availability is critical for a message server, as an interruption can cause a temporary gap in communications, which can indirectly impact revenue. The redundant architecture, with automatic failover, ensures service continuity. With more and more users accessing their email via mobile devices, increased performance requirements necessitate greater server power capable of continuously managing protocols such as ActiveSync and IMAP.
3. File storage and sharing
The storage of corporate or public sector documents is centralized via dedicated file servers with finely controlled access rights. Windows Server with SMB (Server Message Block)/CIFS (Common Internet File System) sharing or NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions are frequently encountered within these organizations. These systems facilitate effective inter-team collaboration, a history of changes, and logs.
Modern solutions incorporate advanced features such as deduplication to optimize storage space and replication for backup. Hybrid cloud synchronization now makes it possible to extend local storage to services such as OneDrive or Google Drive. This approach combines the benefits of local control and cloud accessibility.
At the core of edge data centers
At the core of edge data centers Computer servers are proving especially useful in Edge data centers, as decentralized infrastructure brings computing power closer to all end users. Given the growing demand for ultra-low latency from AI and IoT, not to mention augmented reality and autonomous vehicles, this is a more than sustainable development. Edge servers are sometimes located in constrained environments with limited availability of technicians.
The integration of Edge servers through a compact and robust design makes it possible to resist thermal variations resulting from climate change.
Self-diagnosis and automatic repair limit the need for technician intervention in data centers. Intel develops processors specifically optimized to manage these complex deployments, while maximizing energy efficiency and resistance to failure risks. This fundamentally disruptive approach to IT architecture has been adopted by UltraEdge, enabling intelligent workload distribution that is closely aligned with business needs and the most critical applications.