Why do so many people have servers?

M

MuZI

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
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I've noticed a lot of people have servers. Why do so many people have servers and what are they used for?
 
I have servers because I run a company :)

The primary server does file, HTTP, FTP, IMAP and other tasks.
 
Because they want to serve data and services to other computers.
 
Servers are for managing networks and shared resources.

If you don't have a small LAN and/or shared resources that you need to manage, you don't need a server.
 
the idea is to put porn on servers with password, stream to clients around the house.
 
NoForgiveness said:
Servers are for managing networks and shared resources.

If you don't have a small LAN and/or shared resources that you need to manage, you don't need a server.
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The sad thing is most of us are running small LANs at home.
 
Shoot, even my computer illiterate coworkers are running LANs, probably 90% of America has a LAN at home and doesn't even realize it, why else would Linksys, DLink, and Netgear still be in business. I know folks that can barely turn on a PC that have 6-10 computers running on a home network, though they really only use them to surf the net.
 
DeChache said:
The sad thing is most of us are running small LANs at home.
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Of course. Most people with a family and internet access these days do have a LAN of some sort. Even if it's just two computers using the same router it is a LAN. I would love for us to have a server/domain here, but I've fixed our main problem by connecting our printer straight to the router so we're sticking with a workgroup for now.
 
a server gives you access to your data from anywhere. if you don't need that, then you don't need a server.
 
I have a server to save power.. runs all my torrents & stays on 24/7 to transcode video on demand for my tivo's

Edit: I Guess it would make more sence knowing that my server is a dual core atom with all low power drives compared to the energy sucking desktop..
 
bastage said:
I have a server to save power.. runs all my torrents & stays on 24/7 to transcode video on demand for my tivo's

Edit: I Guess it would make more sence knowing that my server is a dual core atom with all low power drives compared to the energy sucking desktop..
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That is the kind of server I want to have. Something that will handle all the downloading duties and serve up video on demand. As a broke student I am pretty far financially from achieving that goal. Gonna have to sit around using my hot and power hungry PC for everything and watching my shows on this 19" for a while longer.
 
jiminator said:
a server gives you access to your data from anywhere. if you don't need that, then you don't need a server.
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No it doesn't.

Now if you set up a server and configure it for data sharing through your preferred method it does.

i don't need my data accessible from anywhere, but i have use for a server.
 
it would depend on what software the HDD includes (if any). On a server you can install anything you want and have it do anything you want. To clarify, it can be used to either serve data, provide access to data/applications, perform tasks or any other thing you can imagine.
 
jiminator said:
a server gives you access to your data from anywhere. if you don't need that, then you don't need a server.
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Thank you for clearing that up. I've often read about people running servers (even those that don't have small businesses) and wondered why. It seemed to me, aside from accessing data from anywhere, they're not really needed.
 
jiminator said:
a server gives you access to your data from anywhere. if you don't need that, then you don't need a server.
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thats about a load of BS.. Accessing your info from anywhere doesn't require a server & that is just one of the 10's of thousands of reasons that people will build servers for.

To me the prime reason is to take workload from mediocre tasks off my desktop. It uses allot less power & runs 24/7. Thus it saves me a small fortune in power each year by leaving a atom with no video run 24/7 as opposed to running a quad core with power hungry video run 24/7..
 
Well, I run a small file server for hosting all my media (so that it is accessible by any computer in the house, especially the media center), backing up data (in case of something catastrophic happening to my workstation that would destroy any secondary hard drives set up for the same purpose), shares my printer on the network, and hosts a virtual machine that acts as a Bit¢h box for data back-ups, virus removal and general trouble shooting. It also does all this while running on a 250w power supply, so it's easy on the power bill.

I have a web server/dedicated router, but it's down for eventual repairs (I'm in no hurry, I haven't designed any websites lately, so I don't need it for testing, and it only marginally improved my data flow, especially since I live alone now and don't need to ration out bandwidth as much).

Those are my purposes, but there are thousands more for running a server of some sort.
 
bastage said:
thats about a load of BS.. Accessing your info from anywhere doesn't require a server & that is just one of the 10's of thousands of reasons that people will build servers for.

To me the prime reason is to take workload from mediocre tasks off my desktop. It uses allot less power & runs 24/7. Thus it saves me a small fortune in power each year by leaving a atom with no video run 24/7 as opposed to running a quad core with power hungry video run 24/7..
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Ah, that makes sense I guess. What sort of mediocre tasks might one run? Torrents and whatnot?
 
MuZI said:
I've noticed a lot of people have servers. Why do so many people have servers and what are they used for?
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What? You don't have a server? C'mon! Get outta' town.

You gotta have a server if you even want to consider being a potential candidate for the annual [H]ardMember. :rolleyes: :D
 
Cerulean said:
What? You don't have a server? C'mon! Get outta' town.

You gotta have a server if you even want to consider being a potential candidate for the annual [H]ardMember. :rolleyes: :D
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Wow, what a meaningless post.

Anyway, this thread has gotten way out of hand. Some of the first definitions of what servers are for were among the best. It really didn't have to go beyond that. What a server is and why it exists isn't really something you can argue. Unless you don't know what a server is for and you make a post full of ignorance *cough jiminator* then you need to just stay out of it and read the other definitions LOL.

Honestly though, a server provides services. It doesn't get much simpler than that.
 
lol. I gave a typical usage and clarified it later on. in my own defense I used to run a linux box that would scrape 3 different websites for data, compile the data with shell scripts and upload a new web page based on that data. good times. really though, if someone who doesn't know what a server is is asking for it to be defined the context would probably what can it do for him?
 
MuZI said:
I've noticed a lot of people have servers. Why do so many people have servers and what are they used for?
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Well if you have a server with a shared drive on it, you could map out a drive and have basically a huge 2nd drive to store anything you want on that's on a raid array. Performance & redundancy.

Some people also go a bit further and set up a domain at home. It's good practice for work and fun to learn for some people.

If you have a device that can be streamed to, you could have a server set up to connect to the device, then just map out that shared drive to your main desktop PC. Drop a file in the server library folder then turn on the PS3 and watch it!
 
Bottom line is, a server can be what ever you want it to be and do, your desktop could be defined as a server by the very definition if you share a printer from it even or share a drive to a VM on it...

Some people use servers to share files - file server
Some people use servers to share a printer - print server
Some people use servers for DNS, or Active directory for security purposes
Some people use servers as a system to do many various tasks

I am sure you get the idea, i think some people like to run a server cause it makes them feel special or something, others run them because they have a need for them, others run them to learn.
 
Windows Home Server is a an example of a server someone might use for the home.

Take a look here for some of the uses.
 
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