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Types of Servers

Types of Servers
The right server is a game-changer.
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Choose the right types of servers for your business

Servers are the foundation of business computing environments, providing compute power and storage for everything from cloud solutions and AI to applications, email, media, web content, and much more. As the volume of business data and our reliance on it continues to grow, knowing the right types of servers for your IT environment is critical to ensuring productivity, resiliency, and cost-effectiveness.

With rack servers, tower servers, modular infrastructure, and specialty servers, PowerEdge servers offer an array of solutions to meet your business needs.
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View Dell PowerEdge tower servers. These are designed to grow with your organization and are ideal for small, large & remote offices.
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View Dell PowerEdge rack servers. These are designed to accelerate performance across the widest range of applications.
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Types of servers by form factor


Business server technology can be categorized by the types of workloads they manage – application servers, database servers, mail servers, Web servers, and so on – or by their form factor. The most common types of servers include:

  • Tower servers. These machines resemble traditional PC cases. Each tower is a standalone server that sits on a flat surface and requires cabling, power supply, and cooling technology. Tower servers are typically used in smaller businesses that require only a few servers.
  • Rack servers. These servers are designed to be mounted within a standard server rack, allowing multiple servers to be stacked vertically. Rackmount servers have a uniform width, but the height of these servers may vary from one rack unit (1U) to 4 rack units (4U), with each unit equal to 1.75 inches of vertical space. A server rack typically includes some combination of shared power, network, and storage connections for greater efficiency.
  • Blade servers. A blade server is a server on a single card that can be mounted alongside other blade servers within a chassis that provides power, cooling, cabling, and KVM switching to each blade, further minimizing space requirements, and reducing cable clutter.

Types of servers from Dell

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PowerEdge servers are the bedrock of modern business IT. Delivering exceptional performance for small business data needs and enterprise hyperscale environments alike, the PowerEdge delivers end-to-end solutions that work seamlessly to support an increasingly diverse set of workloads.

The PowerEdge server portfolio includes several types of servers.

PowerEdge Tower servers
PowerEdge tower servers are great aavailable in a range of sizes and deliver the performance, versatility, and quiet operations that smaller and remote offices require. PowerEdge one-socket servers (with a single server processor) provide a cost-effective, entry-level solution for smaller businesses; while PowerEdge two-socket servers provide a greater variety of features for high-performance applications like virtualization, consolidation, and web serving. These flexible devices are great as small business servers.

PowerEdge Rack servers
PowerEdge rack servers improve application performance for database, high-performance computing, and virtualization environments. Designed to speed deployment, a PowerEdge rack server also offers robust security built into each server, along with simplified and automated OpenManage tools that allow administrators to easily configure and monitor large clusters.

PowerEdge Modular infrastructure
PowerEdge modular infrastructure solutions optimize IT infrastructure for traditional, new, and emerging workloads while delivering a path to a modern, software-defined data center. These Dell server solutions enable data center architects to configure scalable modules of computing, storage, and networking.

PowerEdge servers for all types of environments

Cloud servers
Hybrid cloud infrastructure is essential to businesses, as 9 out of 10 cloud strategies today include on-premise data centers. Cloud-ready PowerEdge servers provide the data mobility and consistency of operation that lets administrators strategically choose where to run workloads across on-premise, hybrid cloud, or multicloud models. Offering predictive scalability, operational flexibility, and a cyber-resilient infrastructure, PowerEdge servers modernize your business and maximize the effectiveness of your hybrid cloud strategy.

AI servers
Artificial intelligence and deep learning are transforming computing in everything from healthcare and manufacturing to business intelligence and the retail industry. AI computing requires vast amounts of parallel processing power delivered by some combination of graphics processing units (GPUs) and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). PowerEdge server technology offers an optimal mix of accelerator cards, storage, expandable memory, and processing power to balance throughput and computing power for deep learning.

Edge servers
Dell EMC PowerEdge XE servers are purpose-built for complex, harsh, and compute-intensive edge workloads that require high-performance and large amounts of storage. These robust servers offer the reliability and security required for demanding applications inside the data center or in extreme conditions from outside the data center to the edge of the IT infrastructure.

Why choose Dell for your business?

Why Dell 1U Business Sever
Premium products
All of our products are designed to provide secure, powerful, and reliable systems. Built with cutting-edge technologies for maximum operational effectiveness, our products adapt and scale to your business needs.

Comprehensive IT solutions
Support the growth of your business with our IT Solutions. We provide a full portfolio of products that include support & services and on-site assistance. The fully supported and secure solutions are designed to help keep your data secure and your infrastructure strong.

Expert support
We have over 30 years of experience in helping small businesses succeed. Our team of IT experts provides personalized advice and tailored solutions. Easily reach us by call, chat, or email to keep your small business ready for what is next.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the different types of servers?
Server types are often defined by the workloads they are designed to manage -- such as proxy servers, mail servers, web servers, application servers, FTP servers, real-time communication servers, and virtual servers. Servers may also be categorized by their form factor: rackmount servers, tower servers, and blade servers.

What are the benefits of different types of servers?
Tower servers provide affordable and easy-to-manage hardware for smaller businesses and organizations moving to servers for the first time, where scalability beyond two servers is not needed. Rackmount servers provide higher-density compute and storage resources and are ideal for IT environments that require substantial capabilities and multiple nodes. Blade servers are ideal for environments that require a large number of nodes of limited capability, where the physical footprint is limited.
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