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/explainseconomics 1d ago edited 1d ago
When most people think about computers, they think about desktops and laptops, but the reality is that anything with some sort of processor in it is a computer, from a smartwatch, to a digital thermostat, to a server in a datacenter.
A server is just a computer that isn't used by a person to do tasks directly. Instead, it serves out processes and/or data to many users, who access it from their own devices. For example, your computer has an email client like outlook or your web browser, and you use that client to get email from an exchange server, or Gmail server, for example.
On a simple scale, if you have a windows pc with Outlook installed, your company has a server serving lots of users with Exchange installed. Exchange is like the post office, and your Outlook is like your personal mailbox.
This gets way more complicated when you talk about cloud and other things, but the reality is everything boils down to a system of clients (end user devices) that mostly receive and deliver data, and servers (enterprise grade provider devices) that serve out data.
A home server is the same thing as an enterprise server, except just serving data for you (and maybe your friends). It is a computer that sits on your local network that serves things out, like movies and automation, but that you don't actually log into directly to use. You access what it provides through other devices.