Servers are the heartbeat of most businesses, although it’s easy to take them for granted as they are stowed away in a data center. In today’s fast-paced world of technology, companies could not compete without these fascinating machines that hold all their data, logs, websites, and sensitive information. Understanding the main components of a server is helpful when it comes to choosing the right one or upgrading the server for your business.
Table of Contents
Motherboard
Motherboard is the perfect name for its place in a server. The motherboard dictates everything about a server and connects every component. Ram, hard drives, and the CPU are all determined by the motherboard. However, it can be useful just to know that it’s the heart of the server and everything runs together because of it.
CPU
The CPU, or central processing unit, which is also often referred to as the processor, is the brain to the heart of the motherboard. When performance is lagging, the CPU is the first place that will be checked. Performance and the CPU go hand in hand.
When choosing or upgrading a server, it’s wise to seek as much knowledge as you can about the CPU as it greatly determines the quality of the server.
RAM
Random access memory is needed in both quality and quantity. A business needs plenty in their server to be able to host the best website and retain enough information.
There have been many advances in RAM. If there is enough space but the quality is low because it’s an older version, updating the RAM will be necessary.
RAM is referred to in generations, with the latest being 5th generation.
Hard Drive
A hard drive is a self-contained, high-capacity storage device. It stores all digital content on the server. That means documents, pictures, applications, and more are all collected in the hard drive.
There is a downside to hard drives, causing them to quickly be replaced with SSDs (solid state storage). Hard drives take up more space than an SSD in a server, and when more than one is used, they can easily overheat, causing damage.
Ports
Every server has an IP address with many ports, tens of thousands of them, as a part of that address. When data from the internet is received, it is sent through the IP address to one of those ports. Speeds vary at each port.
Power Supply
The server needs power, and every server has a source that powers every component of it. Servers use an average of 850 watts of power per hour. That’s 20,400 watts daily.
As you seek to understand the main components of a server, you may find it more fascinating than you expected and not all that difficult to understand.
To learn more in detail about server, check out this article on What is a server?
