A server is a computer or a program that gives data, resources or services to other computers, called clients, across a network. Clients send a request and the server sends back a response. A web host runs web servers, and a DNS server, short for Domain Name System server, answers name lookups.
History of Server
Creator: No single creator. The term came from queueing theory and early ARPANET documents. Year: 1969.
The word server comes from queueing theory. Queueing theory is a branch of mathematics about waiting lines. The word appears in the mid 20th century. A 1953 paper by Kendall used it, and that paper introduced Kendall's notation. The paper used the word service next to server. Earlier work from 1909 by Erlang used more concrete words. Those words included telephone operators, for the same role.
In computing, the word server dates to at least RFC 5 from 1969. RFC means Request for Comments. It is the numbered document series that records Internet specifications. RFC 5 described the ARPANET. The ARPANET came before the Internet. RFC 5 split hosts into two kinds: the server-host and the user-host. RFC 4 used the words serving-host and using-host in the same way.
The Jargon File defined server in 1981. In that definition, a server is a kind of daemon. A daemon is a background process. It performs a service for a requester, often on another computer. The first World Wide Web server at CERN carried a sticker. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The sticker said the machine is a server and must not be powered down.1 In the early 2000s the average server ran at 5 to 15 percent of its capacity.2
Changelog and latest update
The meaning of server changed over time. It moved from a program to a machine. Strictly, a server is a running program. In everyday speech, server also names the device that runs one or more server programs. On a network, that device is called a host. The Jargon File entry and the early RFCs describe the program meaning first. This shows that the word named software before it named hardware.
Virtualization changed how servers are counted. Virtualization raised how much each physical machine is used. Fewer physical machines are now needed for the same number of services. Clusters can use many small, replaceable server components instead of one machine.
Server design still follows the request-response pattern. The early RFCs describe this pattern. A client sends a request. The server performs an action. Then the server returns a result or an acknowledgment. The same pattern applies to web, mail, database and file services. Each service has its own protocol. For web pages, that protocol is HTTP. RFC 9110 defines HTTP as an Internet Standard.
Latest update: Apache HTTP Server 2.4.69, 2026-10-01
The Apache Software Foundation released version 2.4.69 of the Apache HTTP Server on 2026-10-01. This is the newest version of the 2.4 stable branch. Apache HTTP Server runs on Linux, Windows, macOS and most Unix-like systems. It serves web pages to clients that request them. The release notes state this: TLS 1.3 needs version 2.4.43 or newer, when used with OpenSSL 1.1.1. TLS means Transport Layer Security.
Usage examples
A server runs a program. The program waits for requests on a port. The examples below start a small test server. They request a page from it. They show the server software version. They also build a minimal server in JavaScript. Port numbers identify the service on a host. Port 8000 is used here. It does not need administrator rights.
cd ~/site
python3 -m http.server 8000 \
--bind 127.0.0.1This command starts a web server from Python on port 8000. It runs in the current folder. It binds to 127.0.0.1. Only this machine can connect. Open http://127.0.0.1:8000/ in a browser. The browser shows the files in the folder.
curl -I http://127.0.0.1:8000/
# HTTP/1.0 200 OKThe curl command with -I asks the server for headers only. It does not ask for the page body. The first line of the reply is the status code. A status of 200 means the request succeeded. The Server header names the software that answered. It is left out here.
const http = require("http");
const server = http.createServer();
server.on("request", (req, res) => {
res.end("Hello from the server\n");
});
server.listen(8000);This Node.js program creates a server. The server listens on port 8000. For each request, the handler sends one line of text back to the client. The program keeps running. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop it.
httpd -v
# Server version: Apache/2.4.69The httpd command with -v prints the Apache HTTP Server version. It also prints the build date. Run it on a server that has Apache installed. Compare the version line with the newest release on the Apache project page.
References
These sources are outside Websnoogie and were checked on 2026-10-12.
Server (computing)
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation
Encyclopedia article on servers. It covers the client-server model, the request-response pattern, the word server in queueing theory and RFC 5, and the typical server types named in this article.
Client-server overview
MDN Web Docs, Mozilla
Developer guide that explains how a browser sends a request to a web server and how the server returns a response. It describes static and dynamic sites and the work done by server-side code.
RFC 5: ARPANET host terms
RFC Editor
Early ARPANET document from 1969 that uses the word server for a host that performs a service. It is the earliest computing use of the term cited in this article and separates server-host from user-host.
RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics
IETF, RFC Editor
Internet Standard that defines HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) semantics. It sets how a client request and a server response are shaped, including methods, status codes and headers used in the examples.
Apache HTTP Server project
The Apache Software Foundation
Official project page for the Apache HTTP Server. It lists the version 2.4.69 release dated 2026-10-01, the TLS 1.3 requirement and the list of supported platforms used in the latest update.
Python http.server documentation
Python Software Foundation
Official Python documentation for the http.server module. It describes the command line options, including the port and bind address, used in the first usage example to start a test web server.
The first check on any server
The first thing we check on a client site is the server it runs on. A server is a computer that stores your site files and sends each page to a visitor. When the server is slow, full or out of date, the site loads slowly or stops. We look at its speed, its free disk space and its software versions before we change anything else on the site.
Our hosting is built for 99.999% uptime, which is the share of time the service is expected to stay online. Before we move a site, we check the server on the new host, so the site never arrives on a machine that is already strained. Transfers of normal-size WordPress sites are free. A larger site costs $199 once.
Our phone line answers from 7 am to 10 pm daily, at 402-813-4034. Or order a $300 website that comes with up to five pages plus a contact page, and we will check the server before we build anything. Delivery takes 3 to 5 days after we receive your content.
