Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
might.look.just.like.any.other.computer,.or.in.many.cases.it.
will.be.a.much.smaller.unit.that.its.into.racks.in.a.climate-
controlled.server.facility.
In.larger.enterprises.you.will.often.ind.data.centers.with.
rows.and.rows.of.server.racks.illed.with.small.racked.serv-
ers.with.a.great.deal.of.power..You.may.also.ind.the.larger.
storage.units.in.those.data.centers,.called.
storage.area.net-
works
.(SANS),.and.large.robotic.tape.backup.systems..And.
of.course.you.will.ind.huge.cooling.units.and.power.backup.
systems..If.your.organization.has.a.data.center.I.highly.recom-
mend.taking.a.tour.
But. back. to. the. ile. server. example:. While. physically. a.
server. can. be. a. lot. of. different. shapes. and. sizes,. logically.
they.are.usually.similar.in.at.least.some.respects..Logically,.
they.are.a.centralized.location.that.networked.computers.can.
access.to.use.different.applications.or.services.such.as.e-mail.
and.printers,.or.to.store.data.
If.you.look.at.the.ile.structure.on.a.server.you.will.ind.it.is.
similar.to.that.on.any.computer..It.is.hierarchical.in.that.there.
will.be.a.hard.drive.(or.group.of.hard.drives).given.a.name.and.
which.is.the.base.of.the.server's.ile.system..Within.that.base.
there.may.be.volumes.separated.out.for.organizational.purposes.
For.instance.there.may.be.an.application.volume.that.con-
tains. all. of. the. application. programming.. There. may. be. a.
system. volume. that. contains. operating. system. iles. for. the.
server..There.may.be.an.administrative.volume.with.speciic.
tools.and.access.for.network.administrators.and.a.public.vol-
ume.with.storage.or.tools.for.everyone.to.use..Within.one.of.
those. volumes. there. may. be. directories. and. subdirectories.
such.as.you.would.ind.on.any.computer.
Network.administrators.control.the.access.to.these.serv-
ers.through.the.network.operating.systems.that.are.installed.
on.them..The.most.common.network.operating.systems.are.
from.Microsoft..But.there.are.also.some.from.IBM.and.Novell,.
Linux.and.Sun,.among.others.
All. of. these. operating. systems. organize. users. and. ser-
vices.on.the.servers.using.another.type.of.database.called.a.
