If you can turn your computer into a Web server then what is

If you can turn your computer into a Web server, then what is the difference between your computer and the \"servers\" in the racks of Google?

Solution

Rack Servers :-

These servers are mounted inside a Rack, Major Racks available out there adhere to an IEEE standard and are measured in rack units or “U’s” (each U is 19” wide and 1.75” tall).

A rack server size is typically in the multiplication of these “U’s”. The motivation here is to scale vertically than horizontally with more compact physical servers. In addition to this, there are many other electronic devices which adhere to this IEEE standard for instance – Rack Consoles, SAN devices, Power Backup devices, etc. The advantage being that you can fix them into a rack as well along with your servers.

There are 3 different things that we can consider

Desktop: your normal computer. In the context of this question, also laptops.

Workstation: similar to your normal computer, but more powerful.

Server: used to provide services for users, for example, websites or emails. Often dedicated server hardware.

Desktop

Your normal home computer. In the context of this question, also includes laptops. Typically you want to run graphical environment on your own computer, as almost any typical task - reading emails, browsing the web, watching videos- is easier with the current graphical environment. Virtual consoles on normal desktops are nowadays more legacy than something people use.

Workstation

High-end desktop computer, including more memory, better processors and so on. May include added redundancy too. From time to time, this term is used for any desktop computer.

Server

A server is a computer whose purpose is to handle requests for data from other computers. Web site servers provide visitors\' computers with the data necessary to display its Web pages; servers on your company\'s local network provide files to your employees\' computers. Servers can host applications, but people access that application through their own computers. Employees do not sit down at a server to do their work unless their work is maintaining the server.

Computer providing services to other computers, for example, websites or email service. When talking in the context of this question, the server can be any hardware from a laptop/desktop to dedicated server hardware.

When running Linux, servers often do not run the graphical console, as it is unnecessary for normal tasks, and consumes system resources (memory and CPU time). Administrators (or users) can still use graphical console remotely, depending on the configuration.

Dedicated server hardware is more or less designed for server usage: it offers remote services reliably. No-one is sitting next to it (except for maintenance, in some cases). This means, there is no need for the (powerful) graphics card, sound card, or for low-noise fans. Often servers are mounted to rack and have a dual power source for reliability.