Buying server hardware — the racks or blades and power supply and cooling systems that go along with them — is a big step toward taking control of your company's information flow. But what really makes a server tick is the software inside.

Like an operating system in an ordinary desktop computer, server software give your servers a purpose and means to do their jobs. Unlike operating system software, server software often has just one, specific job to do: dish up Web site pages, handle faxes or e-mail, allow the interchange of corporate files, manage customer data and so on.

Practically speaking, you'll need a dedicated server for each, and server software to match. Covered in this guide:

1. Understanding the different purposes of server software
2. Selecting email server software and fax server software
3. Web server software choices
4. File transfer protocol server software

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

A server and server software for every purpose

Once upon a time, server software was relatively simple stuff. Now, though, most complex business processes require a server, and the right server software, for each. Accounting, customer relationship management, e-mail, Web sites, e-commerce -- nearly any business task could be done with its own variety of server software.

I recommend: In practice, for a small business, this means email, accounting and perhaps, hosting your own Web site. Take a look at product overviews at Microsoft, IBM and HP. See more at the Business.com directory page on server software vendors.

For email, server software choices are many

Email server software has been a principal focus of server software developers for many years, so the choices here are broader and cheaper, in general. Similarly, you can configure server software to deal with faxes, known as fax server software.

I recommend: Some email server software vendors include Merak MailServer, MailEnable, Zimbra, Fusemail, and Surgemail. Additional resources on email server software can be found at Business.com.

File transfer protocol, or FTP server software gives you security

We all love e-mail, but there is pretty much nothing secure about it. If you need to regularly send confidential data, contracts, customer information or other sensitive documents, FTP server software is the solution

I recommend: The interface can be as simple as click and upload, and the maximum file sizes are usually much higher than e-mail systems allow in any case. Take a look at GlobalSCAPE and WinFTP Server. More information on FTP server software is at Business.com.

For e-commerce, you'll need Web server software

Many small businesses are moving their Web sites to managed hosting in order to avoid running their own server software for Web site needs. Your traffic, though, may be high enough or important enough to your model to justify the expense.

I recommend: The major types of Web server software in use today include Apache, Internet Information Services (IIS) from Microsoft, Sun Microsystems' Java server and Zeus. For additional vendor options, take a look at Web server software at Business.com.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The war of late has been between 'open source' server software and its primary competitor, Microsoft Windows. Open source is often cheaper, but could take more resources to manage. Price both carefully over several years, or bring in consulting help before making a big commitment.
• •  Similarly, there has been a lot of pressure on email systems. Generally, unless you need for regulatory reasons to recall every single email in your system, managed email -- which means the server software is offsite -- can be a blessing. Shop carefully.
• •  Not sure what's the right fit? Mix and match. Since most server software requires its own software to run correctly, you could easily buy server software for accounting but outsource your e-mail or Web site to a managed hosting provider.