Don't know about servers? One article will teach you how to say goodbye to newbies

Whether it is the current information society or the upcoming digital society, the development of Internet technology has subverted every aspect of people's work and life, and there is no doubt about the convenience it brings to us.

On the other hand, in our daily work and life, we often hear the word server, but this familiar term is like a stranger and has never appeared in our field of vision. This has also made many friends wonder, what exactly is a server?Server rack cabinet What is it? What role does it play?

In this regard, this article will also explain the basic concepts and structural components of the server to readers in the form of popular science.

Server basic concepts

The so-called server refers to a computer device that manages resources and provides services to users. In a broad sense, a server refers to a computer system that can provide certain services to other machines in the network;rack 42u in a narrow sense, a server specifically refers to certain high-performance computers that provide services to the outside world through the network.

Maybe this statement is too official. To put it simply, the server is a platform that analyzes and processes every search and access of the user when we surf the Internet, and then sends it back to the user. Therefore,server rack server the entire Internet is most inseparable from servers.

At the same time, the reason why we don’t often see servers is because most servers are hosted in specialized computer rooms or data centers and have strict usage and heat dissipation regulations.

In terms of classification, if divided according to the architecture, servers can be mainly divided into x86 servers and non-x86 servers. Among them, x86 servers have become the main choice for non-core applications in small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises due to their price and scalability advantages. At the same time, x86 servers are also the mainstream servers in the current market.

Non-x86 servers refer to servers that use RISC or EPIC architecture and use UNIX and other dedicated operating systems. Their representative products are IBM's mainframes and minicomputers. This type of server has strong performance, good stability, and is relatively closed. The first choice for core systems in large industries such as finance and telecommunications.

In terms of form, servers can be divided into tower servers, rack servers and blade servers. Among them, the tower server is close to the computer host, but slightly larger than the computer host; the rack server is produced using unified standards and has a shape similar to the switch; the blade server is as its name suggests, and can be "inserted" into the standard height like a knife. Within the server chassis, each chassis can be connected to multiple blade units.

Server composition

If you still think that the server is relatively abstract, you can think of it as a super powerful computer. The reason for this metaphor is that in terms of hardware, the components of a server are almost the same as those of a computer, requiring processing modules, memory modules, storage modules and network modules.

Unlike ordinary computers, the performance of these modules of the server is much higher than that of computers. Taking processors as an example, the processors used in servers are mainly Intel's Xeon and Xeon Scalable series, and AMD's EPYC series. The corresponding computer processors are Core, Ryzen, etc. If you simply compare performance, you can get a rough feeling from its core number and price. Taking Intel's processors as an example, the Core X series used in computers can reach up to 18 cores, while the second-generation Xeon used in servers can be expanded with The number can reach 56, and the selling price can be compared by yourself.

Similarly, in terms of memory, computers equipped with 32GB and 64GB DDR4 memory can already be regarded as leaders, while servers often start with 128GB or 256GB, and support 24 or 48 DIMM slot expansion, with a maximum memory capacity of several Terabytes.