from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
database server
A stand-alone computer in a local area network that holds and
manages the database. It implies that database management
functions, such as locating the actual record being requested,
is performed in the server computer. Contrast with file
server, which acts as a remote disk drive and requires that
large parts of the database, for example, entire indexes, be
transmitted to the user's computer where the real database
management tasks are performed.
First-generation personal computer database software was not
designed for a network; thus, modified versions of the
software released by the vendors employed the file server
concept. Second-generation products, designed for local area
networks, perform the management tasks in the server where
they should be done, and consequently are turning the file
server into a database server.