It Keeps Saying "Server Not Found"
Many messages put out by computer applications seem obscure and frustrating. What does “Server not found” mean when running a program on a PC? Where do you look for the server and how do you tell the program where it is on the computer? A server is not on the local computer and so there is not directory to search to find it. The server is not a program, or a resource, it is another computer accessed over a network or the Internet.
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Client-Server
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A program requiring a server is operating in “client-server”mode. This is an “architecture”of networked applications, which shifts some part of the requirements for the program onto another computer. There are many reasons why a program may be designed to use client-server architecture. One is that the company producing the program doesn't want buyers to copy the program and distribute it for free to others. If there is an element of the function of the program that requires a log in to the producing company's computer, the company can track who is using each sold copy of the computer. The main reason to use a server, though is because this reduces the hardware requirements for the local computer running the program.
Servers
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The server that the program failed to find may be one of many different types of servers. Servers perform specialist functions and their use is widespread all over the world, both for commercial networks, and for companies offering services to the public over the Internet. Anybody viewing a Web page has already used a server. The Web page is held on a Web server, and the Web browser has to contact the server to get a copy when the user puts the address of a Web page in the address bar of the browser. Other server types include file server, printer server, authentication server, proxy server and mail server. In fact there is probably a specialized server for any type of data or application anyone could ever want to use.
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Clients
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The computer the user operates to get access to the server is called the “client.” This is the local computer. The ability to contact servers means the client does not have to have the capacity to fulfil all the user's requirements. For example, with all the songs in the world it would take a big computer to hold all the songs a user likes and might want to hear. Instead, it is more efficient that the user buys a much smaller computer, like a laptop or a PC and then get an Internet service so that songs can be downloaded from a server as required. This way, the client computer only needs to have the capacity to hold a small proportion of all the music the user might want to hear.
Server Not Found
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The big drawback of client-server architecture is if the server goes offline or if the client loses the network connection. When this happens the client program is rendered useless, because it needs content in order to operate. This makes “server not found” messages frustrating, because the status of a computer owned by someone else is out of the client computer user's control.
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References
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