In computer science, a server is a centralized computing system that provides services to a computer network. These services can be of various kinds, such as file storage and email. The computers that access a server's services are called clients.

Networks that use servers are of the client-server type, used in medium and large-scale networks (with many machines) and in networks where security plays a very important role.

The term server is widely applied to complete computers, although a server can refer to software or parts of a computer system, or even a machine that is not necessarily a computer.

The history of the server

The history of servers is obviously related to computer networks. Networks allowed communication between various computers, and, with their growth, the idea arose of dedicating some computers to providing a service to the network, while others would use these services.

Servers would be responsible for the first function. With the advent of networks, the need for servers and minicomputers grew, which ultimately contributed to a decrease in the use of mainframes.

The growth of networking companies and the increased use of the Internet among professionals and users was the major impetus for the development and improvement of server technologies.

Servers are intrinsically linked to the history of the web .