User Feedback :: dsl as a home server

Pardon my noobness but this may be a good place to ask this question. As I understand it, a router is used to route traffic from a network to a client machine, (or more than one?). It may or may not (?) incorporate a firewall. A server serves up files from itself to one or more client machines. Right so far?

So using a router for an internet-isolated home network would route/serve files to and from itself? And the difference is . . . ? (Boy, it really shows how little I know about the two, huh?)

jd: The thread was concerning the use of DSL or other Linux _as a router_, which would put it in the position to replace something like a linksys or cisco box including software to route, monitor, and filter traffic to other machines. The server itself would still require additional software.

A server can be used with or without a router, but it is fairly pointless if you don't have some type of useable network set up. Without the networking capability provided by a router or similar connection, the server would be accessible only to the machine on which it runs.

You might think of the differences in relation to cable television. The router is similar to your cable company, the server is similar to the individual TV stations, and your TV is the client.

original here.