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Differences in terminology: databases vs database servers vs server?

I am very beginner and am having some issues understanding if these are separate components. I know that a database is storage of data that can be accessed. I know that a server is a component (hardware or software?) that facilitates communication/processing between components. So is a database server just a server that is always coupled with a database or is it a completely different component on its own? If you have a database, do you always need a dedicated database server or is that just a term used to identify a regular server that just so happens to get info from the database?

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Hey @Sydney_J, here is the reply to your question. Taking your comments one by one -

If you have a database, do you always need a dedicated database server or is that just a term used to identify a regular server that just so happens to get info from the database?

A database server is a dedicated server setup up to entertain the data requests made from the application server. The application server is the server that hosts the backend code. If you intend to run a database you have to set up a dedicated database server other than the application server.

I know that a server is a component (hardware or software?) that facilitates communication/processing between components. So is a database server just a server that is always coupled with a database or is it a completely different component on its own?

A functional server processing user requests consists of both hardware and the software. The physical hardware provides the compute power and the system software acts as the bridge between the hardware and the application software that runs on the server.

Have a look at the data storage diagram above. The data gets stored in the hard drives powered by the storage server. Google File System is the distributed system software that facilitates data storage across several storage servers just like the file system we have in our windows operating system.

Google Bigtable facilitates data read & write operations across a massive amount of data. All the operations are facilitated via an API. So, the physical hardware + Google File System + BigTable + API clubbed together form the database component.

Let me know if you have any further questions. I’ll be happy to answer them.

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Thank you so much!

Simple ThreeTier Application Architecture.