HostComputer

Host computer, sometimes written as hostcomputer, is a computer that provides resources, services, or data to other computers, devices, or terminals called clients, within a network or computing system. In client-server architectures, the host runs services such as file sharing, databases, web or application servers, authentication, and central management. Clients may be workstations, terminals, mobile devices, or other hosts.

Historically, the term arose in mainframe and timesharing environments, where a central computer—the host—coordinated input/output, processing, and data storage for connected terminals. The terminals provided input/output capabilities while the host performed the computation and managed resources.

Today the concept persists in multiple forms. In enterprise networks, servers act as host computers providing resources to client devices. In virtualization and cloud computing, the physical host runs hypervisors or container runtimes and hosts virtual machines or containers. In this usage, the host is distinguished from the guest, which is the VM or container instance running on it. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with server, especially when describing network services, although “host” emphasizes being a host for clients or other compute workloads rather than a specific service type.

Related concepts include workstation, server, terminal, mainframe, timesharing, virtualization, and cloud infrastructure. The host computer is designed with considerations such as performance, reliability, security, and scalability, and typically requires configuration management and monitoring to ensure service availability.