Advantages of Server Side Programs

The list below highlights some of the important advantages of Server Side programs.

1. All programs reside in one machine called the Server. Any number of remote machines (called clients) can access the server program.
2. New functionalities to existing programs can be added at the server side which the clients’ can advantage without having to change anything from their side.
3. Migrating to newer versions, architectures, design patterns, adding patches, switching to new databases can be done at the server side without having to bother about clients’ hardware or software capabilities.
4. Issues relating to enterprise applications like resource management, concurrency, session management, security and performance are managed by service side applications.
5. They are portable and possess the capability to generate dynamic and user-based content (e.g. displaying transaction information of credit card or debit card depending on user’s choice). 

Types of Server Side Programs

1. Active Server Pages (ASP)
2. Java Servlets
3. Java Server Pages (JSPs)
4. Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs)
5. PHP 

To summarize, the objective of server side programs is to centrally manage all programs relating to a particular application (e.g. Banking, Insurance, e-shopping, etc). Clients with bare minimum requirement (e.g. Pentium II, Windows XP Professional, MS Internet Explorer and an internet connection) can experience the power and performance of a Server (e.g. IBM Mainframe, Unix Server, etc) from a remote location without having to compromise on security or speed. More importantly, server programs are not only portable but also possess the capability to generate dynamic responses based on user’s request.