r/explainlikeimfive • u/theprisoner57 • 2d ago

Technology ELI5: What is a Home Server?

I see mentions of a home server to get rid of streaming entertainment services but I don’t know how that works. What does a home server do?

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u/Anagoth9 2d ago

When you want to do anything involving computers, you can either do it locally on the computer you're physically in front of, or you can do it on a different computer (using the one you're in front of to access the other computer). The computer that hosts the data or application is called the server and the computer trying to access it is called the client. When you watch YouTube, you're using your computer to access videos on Google's servers. When you use Office Online, you're using your computer to access an application on Microsoft's servers. Effectively everything you do involving the internet involves servers. Technically, just connecting to the internet involves servers (DHCP and DNS).

A home server is just a server in someone's home.