What does the term "server" mean in this context?

Question

I am currently familiarizing myself with SQL Server security. During the process, I came across the following text passage.

Windows-level principals are generally domain and local server user accounts that authenticate to SQL Server using Windows authentication.

Source: Pro SQL Server 2008 Administration.

What does the author mean by "domain and local server user accounts", specifically "server user accounts"?

Does it mean the user account for the operating system on which, for example, SQL Server Engine is running?

Answer 1

What does the author mean by "domain and local server user accounts

The author means the OS accounts. "Local server" is an operating system instance where your SQL Server is running (and "local server users" are the users created in this OS instance locally - ControlPanel-LocalUsersAndGroups-Users). Domain is accordingly the domain where this OS instance is registered. - Akina

Also note that the "server" term is pretty over-used. In some contexts, it refers to the SQL Server instance, like for "server roles" inside SQL Server. So, one needs to look at the context when you see the "server" term when dealing with SQL Server. - Tibor Karaszi