hostarvuti

Hostarvuti is the Estonian term for a computer that provides resources or services to other devices on a network. In a client-server model, the hostarvuti serves requests from clients such as web browsers, file managers, or applications, and may host services like web servers, databases, file shares, or virtual machines. A hostarvuti can be a dedicated server, a desktop computer configured to share resources, or a server in a data center.

In virtualization contexts, the hostarvuti runs the hypervisor or virtualization software and hosts one or more guest operating systems. The host OS and the guest VMs operate on top of the same hardware; the guest systems are the ones that run user workloads, while the host manages hardware resources, the hypervisor, and management tasks. The term distinguishes the machine that provides services from the machines that consume them (the clients) or from the software environments running inside virtual machines.

Common characteristics include a stable network presence (an assigned IP address or hostname), open ports corresponding to offered services, and administrator access for configuration and maintenance. Security is a primary concern, with firewall rules, updates, access controls, and monitoring to detect failures or intrusions. Data backup and redundancy also play important roles in maintaining service availability.

See also: client-server model, server, virtualization, network services, cloud hosting.