What’s an App Server?

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An application server is a server designed or dedicated to running specific applications. In its most basic form, it could be used to run an application. If that application is what runs a corporate network and is, therefore, a huge application, it could take up the entire RAM and ROM requirement of a server.

Another possibility is that a server is used to run certain types of applications. For example, a business might have several word processing, spreadsheet, or desktop publishing programs, and all of these applications might reside on one type of server. Anyone who needs access to those programs will then log into the Desktop Publishing Server, for example, to use any design programs that the company might recommend and have available.

Another type of application server is one that runs an operating system. This is older style, but still used. Some computers, more commonly called terminals, connect to a server to access basic functions.

Like ants and bees that have specific roles in life, application servers have specific parts to play in the entire anthill or hive of a company. As with many computer-related things, there is a more complicated example. Oracle, a leading server developer, has come out with a Java Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) server. A huge number of companies around the world are using J2EE server, which is capable of running very powerful applications that can be accessed from multiple computers connected to that server over the network.

What it all boils down to, however, is the computer world’s penchant for designating certain resources to perform certain actions. In the same way that someone might use a word processing program to write a document but a photo manipulation program to touch up vacation photos, engineering departments use application servers to compartmentalize how multiple computers of a company do certain things. If they are doing their job well, most people are unlikely to realize that such activity is taking place.

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