Guide: Picking components for your file server

Essentially, a file server is a computer that stores files, is attached to a network, and provides shared access of those files to multiple workstation computers. File servers do not perform computational tasks - that is, they do not run programs for client machines. Furthermore, they do not provide dynamic content like a web server. Still further, file servers are not like database servers in that the former do not provide access to a shared database whereas the latter do. File servers provide access to static files via a local intranet through Windows or Unix protocols as well as over the internet through file transfer or hypertext transfer protocols (FTP and HTTP).