Vichu- For the greater good....

Servers are computers on a client/server network from which applications,data and resources are managed.Basically, servers provide servers provide service.Servers should always be high-performance,fast, and efficient computers. A server can be centralized(handles all the single server specific networking tasks) or dedicated(handles all the single/multi-server network).

[Clients are the computers on a network that lets users access the server's information and resources.Client computers can range from diskless workstations to multimedia enhanced,complete desktop systems.What is very important here is its compatibility with the NOS(Network Operating System) and information service software.]

Some features desirable for Server could be
1) That can help prevent problems,
2) Auto server restart,
3) Predict any possible failure and deal with them when they do,
4) A second redundant NIC(Network Interface Card),
5) Backup cooling fans,
6) Multiple power units,
7) Built-in monitors to check internal temperature,voltage,etc and software to give such information to the system administrator,(SMART: Self-Monitoring, analysis and reporting technology),
8) Ability to monitor and manage remote motoring, nad so on.

Servers tend to be put into 3 or broad categories, variously described as entry-level, departmental, workgroup or enterprise systems, though inevitably there is a lot of overlap.What one company might call a workgroup server, another might use to run its whole business.Similarly entry level system could be used to support a departmental network in a large firm or ,run everything in a small professional partnership.

With their increased external cache capabilities-up to a possible 2MB -and enhanced I/O performance, newer chips are ideal to gallop through the data.To execute processor-intensive applications like simultaneous handling of files and printer sharing on a large network, a machine with SMP(symmetric multiple processing) capabilities enables as much of workload as possible away from the CPU.(SMP allows server to run more than one CPU).



In the area of disk storage what is required is not only high speed and capacity but also high availability: a system that warn of faults and tolerates disk failures .There are two types of disks commonly used -EIDE and SCSI.
EIDE is used in the entry level systems.Besides it can have only 4 disks attached to the controller whereas SCSI can have upto 15.SCSI is faster in terms of data transfer rate.The newest SCSI Ultra 2 Spec gives a rate of max 80MB/sec.