Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

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.