first of all its programing and secondly there is no skill as server, it might be server admin, but never mind, according to me the best way to start getting a foothold is by learning atleast one programming language and the best contender for that would be ....hmm..let me think.....Guess what 'C' or lets say C++ as in course of time ull know that it dosent matter much. now to learn C, get a nice beginners book, a small comp running any os and any c compiler and start hacking (hacking the language i mean) a good online link to start is :

http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/C/CE.htm
u could just start from the basic C section ........ (dont aim at completing the whole tut, section by section)
step 2 would be to take the Beejs networking guide and go through it.

by the time u finish it ... u would be a diffrent person..... and keep ur mind open, decrypting files, spoofing information , hacking only sound cool, they are not what u should really aim for and usually land u in trouble.
Just to satisfy ur anti-creaivity ( ) u could take the osi G.E.E.K. challanges side by side, these challenges are in diffrent levels and would expect you to code effectivley, decrypt files, etc. an action filled learning experince. www.ca-osi.com

hope u like the advice, u can very well ignore it.