What is the Difference between a single threaded file server and a multi-threaded file server?

Answer 1

Single thread means that the processor will wait until one 'process' is complete before it opens a new thread or 'process'. Multi-thread can handle multiple threads simultaneously making it faster and more responsive.

Answer 2

In a multi-threading environment, a process can have one or more threads of execution. The first thread is known as the main thread and the main thread can instantiate additional threads as required. Each thread has its own call stack but all threads share the same address space. If the main thread is the only thread, the process is single-threaded, otherwise it is multi-threaded.

Answer 3

Every process has at least one thread, the main thread of execution. In a multi-threaded process, the main thread generates one or more additional threads of execution. Each thread shares the same address space but has its own stack and runs concurrently with all other threads in the same process. Multi-threading makes it possible for a single process to carry out two or more tasks at the same time. For instance, if the main thread uses a message queue to handle events, it cannot process messages while its handling those events. This is particularly important when the event results in a lengthy operation because the process will become unresponsive to the user. However, by passing lengthy events to "worker" threads, the main thread can continue to process messages while the workers handle the events. The worker can also use the message queue to signal the main thread when it has handled the event. In this way the process remains responsive regardless of how many events are currently being handled.