Internet 101

Servers and clients

A server with multiple clients

You may have heard someone say something like "The server is down" or "We're having problems with the e-mail server." A server is a computer that "serves" many different computers in a network by running specialized software and storing information. For example, webpages are stored on servers.

When you access a webpage, your computer is acting as a client. A client runs familiar software such as web browsers or email software, and it communicates with the server to get the information it requires.

In order for your browser to display a webpage, it requests data from the server where the page is stored. The server processes the request, then sends the data to your browser, where it is displayed.

In peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, each computer acts as both a server and a client. Examples of P2P software include Skype and BitTorrent.