If networks are the roads and the highways, then devices called servers are, well, I guess we could call them the warehouses or the service stations on those roads and highways. And those sound like two completely different things, but I think that it is a very good analogy because servers can be really anything. Because a server is a device that has specialized software to provide specialized services. Like, for example, the most common kind of server is a web server. So in our browser, if we go to laracast.com, that is actually sending a request to a server that is handling the laracast.com website. So that computer actually has software running on that computer that is specifically listening for our web browser connections to provide information.

So that computer actually has software running on that computer that is specifically listening for our web browser connections to provide information. So whenever we click on any one of these links, that is sending a request back to the web server so that it can process that request and it's going to provide us with the content that we requested. And that is the job of a web server, but that is completely different from a database server. A database server is another kind of computer running specialized software to essentially provide database services to applications and users so that they can access and manipulate that data however they need to. But then that's completely different from another kind of server called a DHCP server,

that data however they need to. But then that's completely different from another kind of server called a DHCP server, which exists for the sole purpose of providing IP addresses to devices on a network. And those are three different servers providing three completely different kinds of services. But that's just, that's not even scratching the surface because there are so many other kinds of servers out there. And one of the really impressive things about servers is that they can handle, well, they can handle a lot. Let's go back to the web server. So think of a web server as a librarian.

Let's go back to the web server. So think of a web server as a librarian. We go up to the librarian, we ask for content, and they respond with whatever content that we requested. But of course, in a library, there are multiple people coming up to the librarian desk to request information, in which case a team of librarians would then be handling each one of those individual requests. And that's what a server does. It can handle multiple users, hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously. And it's for that reason, well, not necessarily for that reason, that's one of the reasons

It can handle multiple users, hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously. And it's for that reason, well, not necessarily for that reason, that's one of the reasons why servers are the backbone of really any network. We don't necessarily have to have a server on our home network, but we certainly interact with servers on a daily basis. But if we have servers, then we also have something called clients, which we will talk about in the next episode.