Client-Server Architecture
Client-server architecture is a computing model that facilitates the sharing of resources and services between multiple client devices and a central server. In this arrangement, clients—such as personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones—connect to a server over a network, typically the Internet, to perform tasks like accessing applications, managing databases, and sharing files. The architecture distinguishes itself as a producer-consumer model, where the server acts as the producer supplying services, and the clients are consumers utilizing those services.
These servers can take various forms, including file servers, print servers, and database servers, each dedicated to managing specific network tasks. However, limitations exist; a server can only handle a finite number of connections at once, and bandwidth restrictions can affect the speed of data transfer. In contrast, peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture offers an alternative by allowing direct file sharing among computers without a central server, enhancing fault tolerance and potentially increasing transfer speeds.
An everyday example of client-server architecture is web browsing, where a client sends a request to a web server, which then retrieves and displays the requested information. Understanding this architecture is essential for recognizing how modern networked systems operate, particularly in contexts such as cloud computing and online services.
Client-Server Architecture
Client-server architecture is a computing relationship used to share files across one or more computers, known as clients, and a central computer system, known as a server.
Client-server architecture is also called a networking computing model because a network is used to relay all requests and services between a client and server. A network is a group of two or more connected computer systems or devices. Client-server architecture is also known as producer-consumer architecture, in which a server is the producer and the client is the consumer. In this case, the producer provides services that are in demand by the consumer.
What Is Client-Server Architecture?
Essentially, a client-server architecture relationship is one in which a client links to a server, typically by way of an Internet connection, to complete specific tasks. Some of these tasks include access to applications, access to the server’s processing power, database management, file sharing, printing, and storing files.
Architecture refers to the hardware and software on a computer. Hardware refers to physical items on a computer, such as the display screen, keyboard, and disk drive, and software includes the programs, instructions, and data stored on a computer.
A client is considered an application, or program, that runs on a range of devices such as a personal computer (PC), laptop, tablet, and cell phone or smartphone. These devices must have the capability to connect to the Internet to link to a server. Once clients link to a server, they can obtain files, processing power, and more. An e-mail client, an application that enables a person to send and receive e-mails on a computer, is an example of a client in a client-server architecture relationship.
A server is a computer that manages certain network tasks and contains any files the computers in the network may need to access. It can be thought of as a central hub. However, a server can only communicate with so many computers at once. If the server is overloaded with connections, the connections will slow down or stop. This means that computers in the network will lose access to the server. Additionally, each computer in the network has just one path to communicate with the server. This path is limited by bandwidth, which is how much data can be transferred along the connection at one time. The limited bandwidth of a single connection causes a hard limit to how quickly files can be transferred between a central server and a computer.
Servers enable clients to do a particular task and are dedicated to complete only one specific task. (Multiprocessing operating systems, however, can complete multiple tasks at once, referring services as needed.) Because of this, several types of servers exist. File servers manage disk drives and store files. Most users on a network can access and save files to a file server. Print servers allow clients to print to one or several printers. Network servers manage traffic, or activity, on the network. Database servers process information on the database to quickly locate requests. A database is a collection of organized information.
A server can manage several clients at the same time, and a client can connect to several servers simultaneously to access different services.
An example of client-server architecture is the Internet: A Web server provides clients with Web pages. For example, when a person accesses his or her bank account from a computer, a client program sends a request to the server at the bank. This request is forwarded on until the correct banking information is retrieved from a database. The bank account information requested is then sent back to the person’s client program and is displayed on the computer to the person.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Architecture
Peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture is another type of network architecture used to share files across computers. A P2P network is an alternative to client-server architecture.
In a P2P network, there is no central server. Instead, every computer in a network uses specialized software to connect itself to every other computer in the network at the same time. The P2P network software breaks files into tiny data packets. These packets are sent through the network to the computer asking for the file. They are then reassembled into a copy of the original file.
P2P networks are most useful when more than one computer in the network contains a file. In this circumstance, multiple computers will send packets of data to the computer asking for the file over their own connections, providing an extremely fast download rate. The process of providing a file for download over a P2P network is called seeding, while the process of downloading a file over a P2P network is called leeching.
In a client-server architecture relationship, if a central server fails, the entire network is taken offline until the server can be repaired. The files on the central server may not always be recoverable, leading to permanent data loss. However, on a P2P network, there is no central server to fail. Should one computer be removed from the network, the network has lost only a single leeching node, or peer. In a large P2P network, most files are distributed across numerous computers to increase download speeds; therefore, files are not lost if a single computer is removed from the network.
P2P networks are used for many purposes. For example, the music streaming service Spotify uses a P2P network to increase download speeds. P2P networks are also used by research facilities and video game distributors to download extremely large files faster than other server networks.
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