What is a server and what is it for?

A server is a set consisting of hardware and software designed to receive requests of different types and respond accordingly, sometimes returning information such as a web server that returns web pages, images, videos, etc. or receiving data such as for example an email server.

A server a computer that receives requests from other computers connected to the same network or to the Internet and is responsible for responding to those requests depending on the function, in some cases it may be that it receives requests in order to return information or data as a page web or you can be prepared to receive information as a mail server technicians.

In the following video we can see with a little more clarity what a server is and what it is useful for, as well as some of the most popular services:

Server types

Different types of servers can fulfill multiple tasks, many of them known as we listen to them every day such as web servers or mail servers or other less named but equally important as DHCP Server or DNS Server that we use to daily and we don't know.

Let's now see the different types of servers that exist on the Internet:

• Mail Server: one of the best known services is undoubtedly the email service that is responsible for receiving, storing and of course allowing access to mail, it really is not a single service but a group of services, at least one service SMTP to send and receive mail and a POP / IMAP server to view it, also usually works in conjunction with an Anti-virus and an Anti-Spam. The mail server is one of the most used Internet technologies today.
• VOIP server: it is a server that allows you to use the local IP data network to channel telephone traffic as it is a conventional telephone network and with the appropriate hardware to interconnect with the PBX telephone exchange itself or interconnect through an external network service conventional telephone
• Fax Server: it is a service that allows you to send and receive documents, instead of receiving them and sending them from a paper document like the traditional FAX, this fax service allows you to do it directly with a digital document, that is, when a document arrives a document is created instead of going out of paper on the fax, in the case of sending the document is sent directly through the telephone system as if it had been scanned.
• Proxy server: a proxy server is a server that allows access to other networks through it, it can be used in a local network to allow computers to surf the internet in a controlled way, such as determining which pages they can see, which ones they cannot see , at what times, as well as controlling which user accesses, where you browse, what pages you visit, how much time etc. A public proxy can be used to hide the IP of the source, which does not mean that it cannot be traceable.
• VPN server: they are the initials Virtual Private Network and it is a service that allows secure communications to be established through an encrypted tunnel through an insecure network such as the Internet, a VPN link can be used both to join two geographically separated networks or as a preservation mechanism of privacy and anonymity to some extent on the internet
• Web Server: it is next to the mail service the web server is the most named service, it is the one that allows web pages, images and videos to be published and distributed on the Internet, also allows to give foundation to http-based applications. As web servers we have Apache, Nginx, LiteSpeed ​​or IIS
• Database Server One of the biggest problems of computing has always been how to save information and data quickly, safely, reliably and be able to recover them quickly when needed, the great solution for this is database servers . A database manager allows us to insert, update, delete, list, sort, measure, account, control and manage huge amount of data with ease.
• DNS Server: The Domain Name Server server is a server similar to a database that allows you to locate the server that hosts this website or the mail system from an internet domain. If you want to know in depth how this service works we recommend you read about the DNS Server , where the operation is explained in detail.
• DHCP server: this service is almost unknown to the common user however it is the most used even without realizing it, this service is the one that manages the IP addresses in a network and when connecting a computer to the network or a phone to the WIFI you Assigns a unique IP address on the network. It is an indispensable service in any network to handle IP in a simple and secure way avoiding conflicts in the network, it is so important that in fact every home router includes a DHCP server that if it did not exist we should assign an IP by hand making sure it is not busy A cumbersome process without a DHCP server.
• FTP server: it is one of the oldest servers that exist, they are the initials of File Transfer Protocol, a protocol that allows access to a server to upload, download, update or delete files from the server. The FTP server is still used today because among other things, for example, it allows you to easily and securely access a hosting to manage the files of a website,
• SSH Server: they are the initials of Secure SHell, a service that allows you to remotely access the console of a server or any pc under an encryption layer that guarantees security and privacy, provides a console as if accessed locally and allows you to execute any necessary command on the computer, it can also be used to transfer files securely between two computers, be they servers or workstations. The SSH server is the most used to upload and download information, as well as to execute commands on servers.
• File Server: it is a server designed to store files and place them accessible to users, both in a local LAN network or through the Internet, it can take different forms, it can be implemented through different protocols, among others NFS, FTP or SMB / CIFS in Microsoft or Samba systems, its equivalent in Linux.
• Security Server: it can cover different cases, sometimes Firewalls are often referred to as firewalls, a service is usually called a server that adds an additional layer to the communication between the local network and the Internet such as a VPN or also to an Intruder detection system.
• Print Server: the print server is a service that allows you to manage the queue of documents pending printing on one or more printers, there is also a separate hardware device called print server fulfills the same function, the difference is that it works independently of any PC or server.
• Cache Server: The cache server is a service that allows you to store files and even results of database queries in a fast-access area in order to speed up applications and web pages. For example, very frequently requested files are stored in memory where access is much faster than requesting them from the storage unit (HDD or SSD) or results of repetitive SQL queries are stored in memory or in files instead of being made to the database. data with a cost and CPU time.
• Load balancing server : is responsible for distributing the load to other servers that are behind, thus ensuring the stability of the applications that run on them, or their databases. They are usually a specialized hardware in these tasks, or software that does the load balancing once installed in the operating system (as in the case of Nginx).