Oracle: Server Processes

A server process is an Oracle process that communicates with a client (aka client process).

Server processes are associated with an instance, but they are not part of the instance.

Server processes are also referred to as foreground processes (as opposed to background processes).

A server process does not write directly into a database file. Instead, it writes into the buffer cache and lets background processes do file I/O. (But see also bypassing the buffer cache with direct path inserts and reads).