FREE online courses on Information Technology - Chapter 6 IT - FUNDAMENTALS
- The Server
In the client-server model of computing, a user's client PC
makes requests of a server computer that has data and possibly programs on it.
The server is responsible for the database and is likely to execute data and
provide it to the client. The user's client does various analyses of the data
using its own processing power. At first, the server did not do much but let
users download software and print reports in a local area network. However, as
PC chips became more powerful, so have servers. They now challenge minicomputers
and may soon go after the mainframe market. Intel is so optimistic about the
server market that it is marketing complete boards for servers containing four
Pentium Pro chips. A vendor can use this board as the major component of a
server. Vendors like Sun Microsystems sell powerful servers based on their own
chips like Sun's SPARC chip. IBM is even calling its mainframes “enterprise
servers.”
A large grocery store used to have a $250,000 minicomputers.
Now it runs its business on a multiprocessor server that costs $25 to $50,000.
One Compaq server containing 4 Pentium processor has been clocked at 600
transactions per second with standard database software compared to 200
transactions per second for some midrange computers. Server makers envision
computers with up to 32 Intel Pentium Pro processors achieving the performance
of today's high-end mainframes.
