Servers and Server Performances

In information technology, a server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs (and their users) in the same or other computers.

The computer that a server program runs in is also frequently referred to as a server (though it may be used for other purposes as well).

In the client/server programming model, a server is a program that awaits and fulfills requests from client programs in the same or other computers. A given application in a computer may function as a client with requests for services from other programs and also as a server of requests from other programs.

Specific to the Web, a Web server is the computer program (housed in a computer) that serves requested HTML pages or files. A Web client is the requesting program associated with the user. The Web browser in your computer is a client that requests HTML files from Web servers.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/server

Maintaining high server performance and appropriate scale to keep up with growing computing demands doesn't happen automatically. Data center administrators must continuously track performance and make the most of hardware resources. There are ways in which IT professionals can simplify server management at top performance.

Benchmark testing helps administrators monitor server resources, manage utilization, optimize performance and identify problems before they occur. Simple server configuration tweaks can squeeze more performance out of physical and virtual machines (VMs).

http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/guide/Server-performance-and-benchmark-testing-guide