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21 What is a server? |
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21 What is a server? |
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This article is from the Amiga Networking FAQ, by Richard Norman with numerous contributions by others.
A server is a computer which acts like a library for files, and programs. It can
also be set up to allow users to change the information as well. Several programs
and protocols exist for creating a server: Appleshare, NFS, Xwindows, FTP, news,
gopher, WWW, DCE, SQL, and user written applications.
Appleshare and NFS make remote disks seem like local disks. Thus allowing a group
of users to share disk space and information if so desired.
Xwindows is a device independent network terminal package which supports a
graphical user interface. It can be thought of as an display server. The
application can be run on one machine and the display served to any Xwindow
device on the network. If Excel had a X window version it could be run on a Mac
or PC and the display could be on any Xwindow device anywhere on the network. It
could even be displayed on an Amiga using X11R4 .
FTP server software allows you offer a portion or all of your disk drive for
remote access. Unlike Appleshare or X windows you cannot run applications
remotely. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and file transfer is all that it
does. It does provide a binary mode of transfer so that you can copy applications
to your local hard drive or ram and then run them.
News, gopher, and WWW are special servers for information which require a client
software package to access. They can be thought of as network databases. These
are explained in other sections. G07
Database servers are usually custom written to fit a need such as inventory. SQL
is standard query language and DCE is distributed computing environment. SQL and
DCE can be used in vendor or user written applications to create or access
multiple database servers. This allows the programmer to distribute the load
across several machines. Also it allows for more seamless integration of data from
several non-similar computer systems in a transparent manner to the user. For
example, very few executives want to FTP to three or four machines to pull
together the information for review. They tend to like to click on a weekly report
button and have the program do all the work. Since SQL and DCE are standards, the
weekly report program is somewhat shielded from hardware specifics or changes.
Continue to:
amiga, pc, hardware, sotware, networking
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