workstation (in this case) = normal PC.
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How does the network infrastructure affect the servers?
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directly affect the performance of the server? no, but remember a server provides a service and the experience of using that service (either positively or negatively) is affected by the whole data system: Server, network and workstation.
If the request for the service is delayed/garbled/lost by any piece of the system, the whole experience suffers. For example, using your example above: all PC's (100mbps) and connected to a server (1000mbps), the maximum number of PC's that could simultaneously access the server (all things being equal) is 20 (20 x 100mbps = 2 gbps = a full duplex 1gbps connection). What happens if more than 20 attempt simultaneous access? the traffic gets buffered (hopefully) and held until there is available bandwidth to forward the request. Now scale that to hundreds (or thousands) of users across multiple locations in multiple countries.
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How do the servers communicate with each other in a multi server setup? Are they part of the network like a workstation, connected via say a gigabyte ethernet port?
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servers are connected to the network just like any other network device. It is the
how and the
where that is the important part.
to fully explain this requires a quick lesson on network architecture design (Don't worry, it sounds worse than it is):
there are 3 general areas of a network:
Access (or edge) layer
Distribution layer
Core layer
the access layer is where 'edge' devices are connected to the network (mainly PC's and printers)
distribution layer is where the commonly accessed network resources (servers, internet routers, firewalls, wireless access points etc)
core layer is where all the heavy networking decisions occur (overall network policy enforcement and the like - don't worry we won't play here, this is where the big boys play and the discussions here are the kind where people don't even understand the question, much less be able to formulate the answer)
Now, as above, servers will happily sit in the distribution layer and the switching gear here is a tad different than what exists on the edge. The switches here are more powerful, internally faster and, more importantly for your question, have higher transport speeds. On the access layer, 100mbps is king, with 1000mbps going upstream to the distribution layer. In the distribution layer, multiple 1000mbps are bonded together for interswitch links and the backplane speed of the switches here are very very fast (ranging from 10gbps up to 720gbps). Now remember when I said that a server may have more than 1 NIC? well here, a server most likely does. 1 NIC for PC access and 1 for server to server connections. so servers connected to the same switch, leveraging the big backplane can tennis information back and forth between themselves at a much higher speed than PC to server or PC to PC connections can support. (it's fun pulling back the curtain here and seeing Oz).
A network is a system and process and it all must work together to provide what is requested to the user in a smooth and timely manner.
Now, there are ways to have fun and tweak the whole system to make this happen quicker and more efficiently. These tweaks, BTW, are some of the huge differences between 'SOHO' gear and 'Enterprise' gear. The needs of a 'small' network providing basic file/print/internet sharing services are completely different than those of a 'large' network providing, in addition to file/print/internet sharing, things like load balanced content delivery, voice/video content, telephony services, web based applications ranging from online ordering systems to employee expense reporting to meshed video conferencing.
So the servers, the switches, the routers, the security, the mobility access, the design and implementation of the all of the above are critical to meeting the specific needs of the network owner and the users of the network (both internal and external).