Chapter 4. Servers

This chapter is about servers. Unlike a workstation, which is dedicated to a single customer, multiple customers depend on a server. Therefore, reliability and uptime are a high priority. When we invest effort in making a server reliable, we look for features that will make repair time shorter, provide a better working environment, and use special care in the configuration process.

A server may have hundreds, thousands, or millions of clients relying on it. Every effort to increase performance or reliability is amortized over many clients. Servers are expected to last longer than workstations, which also justifies the additional cost. Purchasing a server with spare capacity becomes an investment in extending its life span. ...

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