In this article, we want to discuss the important issue of the server, which is one of the necessities of every website and online business. It can be said that one of the positive points of Corona is that in the last year and a half, it has caused a lot of changes in the lifestyle of people all over the world, and few people who resisted going online have to They migrated to the digital world, they tasted the taste of the digital world, and as it turns out, they liked it.

Today, most businesses have gone online and created a website for themselves. And that means most businesses have a server, but do you know what a server actually does? Maybe the size of some servers can make people afraid of understanding their work. A server plays a vital role in business technology. To be able to easily store and access data on your network, you need to know and choose the right server.

I think you understand to some extent why it is so important for us to get to know the server and its types and features.

What is a server?

Server literally means server. If we want to provide a simple definition of a server, we must say that a server is a computer that provides information to other computers. These computers, called clients, can connect to the server through a local area network or a wide area network such as the Internet. A server is a vital part of your IT infrastructure.

In other words, it can be said that a computer server is always on and very powerful in terms of hardware, from which users expect answers to their requests at all times and 24 hours a day. The birth of the first server called LISTSERV was in 1981. IBM built this server to coordinate group emails.

What does the server do?

A server collects and sends information over the network. Now this can be a local network, such as your business network, or a wider network in multiple locations and over large distances spanning the globe. When our server is only within the range of an internal network, it is called a local network server. This means that all the computers in this network receive commands from the server and solve their network requests and needs with its help.

On the other hand, if we slightly increase the extent of this network, for example, it consists of all the computers that are connected through the Internet, we will face a very large group of computers that are always on and available through the Internet, and Internet servers, the information stored in They provide users with what they search on the Internet at any time of the day or night. Any computer that has the right software and hardware can be a server. Although when we hear the word server, we think of very powerful machines that exchange data over the web.

Whenever you use the Internet, you access a server. When you enter the URL in the browser, your computer communicates with the server hosting that website and displays the data on your device. This is a simple look at how the server works.

You enter a URL and your web browser requests a web page, and the web browser requests a full URL for the site it wants to display. This information is sent to the server.

The web server finds and creates all the data needed to display the site, which is why some sites load faster than others. Your web browser receives the data and displays the website for you. In terms of hardware, the server is just a computer, with the difference that no one is sitting behind the monitor to work with it. In a typical business network environment, you might find an email server that handles all email traffic and storage, a print server that manages all printers, or a database server that houses the company’s database.

There are different types of servers, including web servers, mail servers and file servers. A web server serves web pages to computers that connect to it. It also supports scripting languages such as PHP, ASP and JSP. An email server stores users’ email accounts and sends and receives email messages. For example, if you send an email to one of your friends, the message is sent by the mail server using the SMTP protocol.

A file server is a computer that stores files accessible by other computers. File servers are often used on local networks and usually require a password or some form of authorization to connect to. These are just a few examples of some common servers, but there are many more. Almost any computer can be used as a server if the necessary server software is installed on it and the hardware is powerful enough to handle the workload. While servers usually don’t need a lot of processing power, they do have lots of RAM and fast hard drives to help the server cope with heavy traffic.

Data center

In the simplest case, a data center is a physical center that organizations use to place and maintain their important programs and data (that is, servers). The design of the data center is based on a network of computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of shared applications and data. The main components of a data center design include routers, switches, firewalls, storage systems, servers, and application delivery controllers.

So the data center is a place where a large number of server cases are used to store and process important information in the network. These servers are placed in racks, cages and different rooms. The data center building consists of different parts: hardware warehouse, control room, server room, generators, and cooling facilities, UPS and Battery Backup room, fire extinguisher room and network management room. These sections may differ according to the needs, design and facilities and infrastructure for each data center.

Modern data centers are very different than they were not long ago. Infrastructures have been moved from internal physical servers to virtual networks and are supported by multicloud environments.

Server features

Server hardware resources

Servers are made up of powerful hardware parts to have the highest processing and performance. Generally, servers consist of a powerful processor with a high number of physical and virtual cores, high RAM and hard disk with a lot of storage space.

With this amount of power and performance, the servers must be kept in a space that does not have any disruptions and outages and be open 24 hours a day and connected to the Internet. So that they can respond to the numerous and frequent requests of users at any time.

Server operating system

A server operating system is an operating system specifically designed to run on servers. Including Linux and Windows Server operating systems and VMwares, Mac OS X Server, Solaris.

linux: Linux like CentOS, Red hat, Debian

Unix: which is used on small sizes

Windows: different versions of Windows Server such as Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016 or older versions of 2008 and 2000

VMware: VMware ESX and Hyper-v virtualization software, KVM and…

Types of servers in terms of structure

Structurally, we have three types of servers: Tower, Rack and Blade. Rack and Blade servers are mostly used in large companies and large networks such as ISPs. As we said, the servers must work around the clock. For this reason, the best methods are used to care for and cool them.

Server racks are usually used for organizations and large size companies, and there is one server on each floor of the rack.

Server blades each server has a more compact size and is placed in a row in the form of vertical blades.

Tower servers are used for small company sizes and do not have the capabilities of the previous two types, and its appearance is similar to a desktop computer case.

Types of servers in terms of resource allocation

Servers are divided into the following groups to provide their services to clients, and the way of resource allocation is different in them. Shared server, virtual server and dedicated server. Of course, in the companies that provide website hosting services (your website host), you can also see cloud and WordPress divisions for web servers. The cloud, as the name suggests, means that your speed is so high that you are on the clouds. In the cloud server, a large number of servers are connected and create a giant server with more space and more power. The WordPress web server is also optimized for WordPress websites.

  Shared Server

Shared server, as its name suggests, its resources, including processor, bandwidth, storage space, and RAM… are shared among users according to the settings of the server manager. It is usually suitable for small to medium-sized companies, because it is shared, it does not have a very high speed, but it costs less.

VDS server (Virtual Dedicated Server)

The VDS server is for larger sizes with more dedicated resources than a shared service that is done through virtualization of dividing the resources of a dedicated host server into several machines. Due to the exclusiveness of the resources of these machines, the number of websites created on the host server will be less than shared server websites, and of course they have more speed and power and more cost.

VPS server (virtual private server) is similar to VDS with virtualization, but here several virtual machines are located on one server, so they have less speed and power.

Dedicated server

Dedicated servers are suitable for large companies and highly visited websites such as online stores. Because they will need more resources than one virtual machine. These services will give users their own processor, RAM, data storage space, rack space and bandwidth on a completely dedicated server.

Types of servers according to application

Web Server

Web server is used for setting up websites and hosting. Which can be accessed by referring to its hosting site, various types of web servers and their specifications.

Mail Server

Mail server is used to send and receive email. By installing email software such as Smartermail, Postfix, etc. on the server, you can use them for email services.

Data Server

Data server is mostly used in organizations, companies as a database by a software or service.

Application Server

The server application is used to install the software used by the server users and the clients can access it through their computers.

File Server

File server is one of the most basic and simple types of servers for file sharing.

DNS Server

DNS server on which the service and DNS settings of websites are performed. Performs tasks related to resolving IPs related to web server, email server, etc. in the Internet network.

Game Server

Game Server is a game server and a type of Application Server. As its name suggests, its use is only for installing the game on the server, and users connected to the network can enjoy playing over the network by communicating with the game server.

Media Server

Media server created for sharing multimedia services.

Computing Server

Server computing, most large companies or organizations use many and various calculations for their affairs. This high volume of calculations makes them use a computing server for better management of these calculations.

Proxy Server

The proxy server is an interface between the main server and the client, it takes information from both sides and sends it to the recipient after checking.

Tips for choosing the right server for a business or organization

The first step in choosing the right server

One of the most important steps in choosing the right server is to know where our business is and where it will go in the future. To have a clear view of my business and to know my business plan well, to examine this issue from different angles and prepare it. Let me see what challenge is there for me that I have to solve by using the right hardware, and with the view that I know exactly where I am and exactly where I will reach, I can take the first important step in choosing the right server.

The most important person who can help us in this field is the person who runs the company or the CEO of the company who knows best of all where the company started and where it is going to reach. So, one of the most important people you can consult with in order to choose the right server is the CEO or company managers. So, knowing the business and what stage it is in, is my business home or soho or is it a small and medium or large business (SME: Small Medium Enterprise).

In each of these businesses, we must define our phases. Whether we are in the beginning phase, we are in the growth phase, or we are in the development phase of this market and customer segmentation model that HP has provided. So we can take the first step in choosing the right server by accurately determining these phases and the level of business.

The second step is to choose the right server

Before making a purchase, you should definitely research and consult about the features and capabilities of the server you want. As you know, servers can have these features: exclusive hardware resources, the ability to increase and upgrade server hardware, permanent connection to the Internet, very high performance speed, processing power and fast computing power, high security, the possibility of implementing software Raid and hardware.

Budget is one of the most important factors in choosing and buying a server and basically any purchase, and before making a purchase, we must know exactly what our needs are, for example, some large government organizations say they gave us 80 million budget to buy a server, and take action. They buy a server for 80 million that they may not even need the capabilities of that server and will never use it, thus creating additional costs for the company.

On the other hand, we should not spend so little that we will face challenges in a few years and the needs of our organization have grown and increased, and we should ask ourselves what we should do now to be able to respond to them, and the most important issue is to support the growth of the system. Let’s pay attention and prepare an upgradeable server. Therefore, we should not spend so much that we will not get any benefit from it because we will never find a need for those capabilities, nor so little that none of the needs of our organization will be answered.

So that we can justify the CFO to approve the server purchase plan. We must speak the language of money. The financial manager who does not know the language of bytes and bytes, you should explain to him the economic solution that is profitable for us. A tool that can be used in this direction is the tco (total cost of ownership) tool, which takes into account all the costs of purchasing and setting up, maintenance and support and management costs, human costs, training and all of these. . The next tool is ROI (Return on Investment), which is return on investment, which means that if our systems are to be upgraded or replaced, we must see how much money it will bring to us in a certain period of time, and these two points must be taken into consideration. Second, we should pay attention to choosing the right server.

The third step in choosing the right server

The administrator or the person who is responsible for buying the server after talking about the business with the CEO and getting a clear vision of the business and then agreeing on the budget with the financial managers based on these two. It will assess the needs of the organization and the company and will choose the right server.

But what points should be paid attention to the company’s internal network, how many employees we have, what software we want and how many employees work with them, what features we expect from our server, how many servers we want, now in virtual or physical form. What kind of hard drive and how many do we want, how much RAM do we want with what capacity, what processor we need.

We should take into account the space required for the server and the forecast that the number of servers may increase in the future and discuss the development of the network. It’s still small and you don’t have an admin. Most of the reputable companies have their own experts in this field to advise you on which server with which configuration is suitable for the size and purpose of your company. Try to choose a server that has at least a 2-year warranty. This is the third step in choosing the right server that you must consider.

Why choosing the right server is effective in the speed of your website?

One of the most important and effective points in technical SEO is the speed of your website. Suppose that you have a store website and a customer wants to search on your website to choose the product he wants, if your website speed is slow or the connection is constantly disconnected and reconnected, it will definitely bother today’s impatient users and They prefer to buy from your competitor’s site, even at a slightly higher price, but with better speed and quality.

Amazon was able to multiply its sales just by improving the speed of its site by a few tenths of a second.

This is where the fundamental importance of choosing the right server for your website is highlighted, and as you can see, website speed is so important that it is one of Google’s main criteria for ranking your website, because nothing is as important as it is not important for Google to provide quality services of your site to users. So, by choosing the correct and principled server, you can take a fundamental and big step towards the SEO of your site.

One of the things that is very important in choosing the right server for your website is the uptime of the web hosting and in fact the server, how reliable they are during the day and night and how much they can increase the availability of the server and thus your site. Guarantee you In other words, its servers should have a low fault tolerance. As we said, this is very important and vital for a store website, which has online sales, so that almost zero outage should be guaranteed for it, as well as high speed. If it is different, he will lose his customers and it may even cost him bankruptcy.

On the other hand, in the case of a website that only provides educational services and does not sell products directly, the same point, the server uptime guarantee, is not as important and vital as a store site. Supposedly, if there is a disruption or outage for even half an hour in a month, it will not be seriously threatened.

 

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