Server

Physical Unit

• Server rack

Brains

• Rack servers
• Flat horizontal boxes stacked in a rack
• Store data and run applications, depending on the setup
• If we run an application with a dataset from the server rack, or use remote desktop, we use the server's CPU or GPU

Ports

• A thin device with 24 or 48 Ethernet ports
• Acts like a power strip for data, which lets everyone plug into the Local Area Network, or LAN
• LAN is a group of devices that are close to one another and can communicate, such as through file transfer, without public internet
• A Network Interface Card, or NIC, converts digital data from the CPU into electrical or optical signals that can travel over the medium
• WLAN is a LAN that is fully wireless and interconnected through Wi-Fi and RF waves
• A switch is a modern electrical junction that directs data only to the specific ports where the destination device is plugged in

Wireless Access Point

• A WAP near the server connects to the switch
• It helps us to access data with Wi-Fi

Internal Components

• CPU, or Processor
• RAM, or Memory
• Storage
• NIC, or Network Interface Card, where the Ethernet cable plugs in
• Power Supply, or PSU

Network Interface Card

• A specific circuit board or chip installed inside every computer, server, or printer
• Takes parallel digital data from the computer's motherboard, CPU, or RAM
• Serializes the data and converts it into differential electrical signals that travel down the twisted-pair copper wire
• Every NIC has a unique MAC Address burned into its silicon at the factory, like a serial number
• A device must have an internal NIC to be on a network

The Switch

• A smart junction board or switchboard
• Creates a temporary, dedicated electrical path between two devices
• Receives a signal from Server A's NIC
• Reads the destination address, or MAC Address, inside the data packet
• Closes the circuit only to the port where Laptop B is located
• Connects all separate NICs so that they can communicate
• For wireless communication, the data is converted into RF
• A decoder decodes the RF to find the destination