what's the difference between a mainframe and a server?

[psteng19]

stupid question?

 

[Shooters]

A server is something that other computers connect to via a LAN or the internet and allows all the computers which are connected to it to communicate with each other. A mainframe I believe is just another name for a supercomputer which is simply just a big computer with amazing number crunching ability.

 

[Journeyman]

To put it another way:

A server is a computer that provides servies (hmmm) to other computers on a network. File servers store files, print servers expedite network printing, web servers allow access to web pages, etc... Physically, servers in a business environment are frequently just beefed up takes on desktop computers, using the higher end of similar technology.

Mainframes are very large, very expensive supercomputers that were used "back in the day" (and are still used by companies who haven't replaced/upgraded them yet) as servers. Desktop-type technology wasn't powerful enough to provide services for a large-scale network, so these larger, more powerful computers were necessary. They're more or less obsolete now, as the same services can be provided at lower cost by one or more modern servers.

I think that's a more or less accurate, but broad, explaination... Someone correct me if I've missed anything important...

 

[Larno]

to put it short about $50,000.

 

[Punamo]

Mainframes are often used to be centralized number cruncher, and it's very well maintained in that it rarely shuts down (if a few of those are connected for redundancy purpose it up time is almost guaranteed). Servers can do the same too, but due to difference in hardware and software configuration it's done differently. Most of the time users access the mainframe using a terminal type of software (used to be just dump terminal with boring screen and a keyboard), whereas there are tons of ways we could connect to a server.

More at here (it's the second article).