The term “server” is often used in conjunction with IT, computers, networks and the rest. But what does it actually mean? And what does it mean when they say “the server is down”? First of all: A server isn’t much more than a particularly powerful central computer to which many other computers (on a network) are connected. As the name suggests, the server literally serves clients, which is what the computers connected to it are called. If a server is down, it also means that the functioning of the computers on the same network is partially or fully impaired. This is particularly often the case if the central computer is overloaded – for instance, if too many users want to access a website at the same time.