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Application Server

Synonyms

Definition

An Application Server is a dedicated software component in a three-tier or multi-tier architecture which provides application logic (business logic) and which allows for the separation of application logic from user interface functionality (client layer), delivery of data (web server), and data management (database server).

Key Points

Modern information systems, especially information systems on the web, follow an architectural paradigm that is based on a separation of concerns. In contrast to monolithic (single tier) architectures or two-tier client/server architectures where business logic is bundled with other functionality, three-tier or multi-tier architectures consider dedicated application servers which exclusively focus on providing business logic.

In three-tier or multi-tier architectures, application servers typically make use of several middleware services which enable the communication