A server computer is a computing system designated to run a specific application or applications for extended periods of time and often with minimal human interference. Although servers can be built from commodity computer components, dedicated servers use specialized hardware for optimal reliability. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are virtually nonexistent in servers so it is unnecessary to install expensive video adapters, as well as audio interfaces, joystick connections, and many USB peripherals typically found in Notebook or Desktop PCs. To keep systems cool, reliable fans or even centralized air conditioning are used. To ensure no loss of data is experienced during a power failure, special redundant uninterruptible power supplies are needed.
Trends in Server Computing:
Multi-processing: The performance focus in processors for servers has shifted away from simply increasing linear execution (i.e. boosting the clock speed) toward developing multi-threading techniques with multi-core processors. Historically, servers have utilized multiple processors (with single cores) to boost performance but in recent years processors now have embedded multiple processing cores into each processor enabling the server to execute more than one stream of code simultaneously. As processing cores increase, it is logical the number of threads should also increase to take advantage of the enhanced processing power of these multi-core systems.
Power Consumption and Thermal Considerations: An added benefit to multi-core processors is that the power required to operate these newer processors does not increase linearly with the number of cores available on a single monolithic integrated circuit. In fact, today’s dual-core and quad-core processors are comparable in power consumption to their predecessors. This is great news for the hardware engineers who are tasked to dissipate heat away from the processors.
Architecture Innovations: As with any computing system, a bottleneck in the processor, memory or I/O can severely degrade the overall performance. Along with multi-core and multi-thread enhancements, processors today have the ability to execute certain 124-bit instructions resulting in a significant performance boost. For memory improvements, fully-buffered DIMMs (FBDIMMs) reduce latency resulting in shorter read/write access times. High-speed interface standards such as PCI-Express, HyperTransport, Serial ATA, SAS, and USB ensure the information fed into the server is fast enough for the processing power of the server.
Virtualization: Virtualization is a new software technology that allows hardware in a single operating system of a host server to run multiple operating systems and multiple applications on the same computer at the same time, increasing utilization and flexibility.
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