英文字典中文字典Word104.com

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (foldoc)

1. A program which provides some service to other ({client})
programs. The connection between client and server is
normally by means of {message passing}, often over a
{network}, and uses some {protocol} to encode the client's
requests and the server's responses. The server may run
continuously (as a {daemon}), waiting for requests to arrive
or it may be invoked by some higher level daemon which
controls a number of specific servers ({inetd} on {Unix}).

There are many servers associated with the {Internet}, such as
those for {HTTP}, {Network File System}, {Network Information
Service} (NIS), {Domain Name System} (DNS), {FTP}, {news},
{finger}, {Network Time Protocol}. On Unix, a long list can
be found in /etc/services or in the {NIS} database "services".
See {client-server}.

2. A computer which provides some service for other computers
connected to it via a network. The most common example is a
{file server} which has a local disk and services requests
from remote clients to read and write files on that disk,
often using {Sun}'s {Network File System} (NFS) {protocol} or
{Novell Netware} on {PCs}. Another common example is a {web
server}.

[{Jargon File}]

(2003-12-29)