#3 SERVERS AND NETWORKING COMPONENTS: THE NETWORKING SERIES
Are you online? Of course you are! And that’s how you are reading this blog right now. Would you like to know how this is possible? This series is all about what it takes to be online and access internet!
Hey peeps, hope you got some knowledge on how data is transmitted over a network and what are the media used for this transmission. In this part of the series, we would be discussing about “Servers and Clients”, their roles, Peer-to-Peer networking and the components involved in networking.
Clients and Servers
A device in a network that participate directly in network communication is classified as “host”. Hosts can send or receive messages in a network.
Server: Hosts which send data
Client: Hosts which receive data. In modern network, the hosts acts as a server, client or both. The role of the host is determined by the software which is installed in it.
As mentioned above, servers are host which have software installed that allows them to share information to other hosts. For example, a server should be installed with a web server software in order to provide web services to the network.
As well as, clients are hosts that have software installed which enables them to request and display the information obtained from the server. Internet explorer, Safari or Chrome are some of the examples of client software(web browser).
Peer-to-Peer Networks
Generally, the client and server software runs on separate computers. It is also possible that the same computer to run both the client and server software simultaneously. In homes and small offices, many computers function as both the server and client. This type of network is called as “Peer-to-Peer Network”(P2P).
A simplest P2P network consists of two computers interconnected using either wired or wireless connection. The computers use this media to send and receive information between them, acting as client or server as necessary. A large P2P network can also be created by connecting multiple PCs, but this requires a networking device such as a switch, to interconnect the computers.
The main disadvantage in this P2P network is that the performance may be slowed down if the PC is acting as both a server and a client at the same time. In large businesses, it is advised to have dedicated servers to support large number of network traffic. Some of the advantages and disadvantages of P2P network is listed below:
Advantages:
- Easy installation
- Less complex
- Low cost as there is no requirement for dedicated servers or network devices.
Disadvantages:
- Insecure
- Doesn’t have a centralized administration
- Performance is low.
A server or a client can have multiple roles in the network. Like a computer with a server software installed can provide services simultaneously to many clients. In addition, a server can run many types of server software, like a single computer can act as a file server, a web server and an email server. Likewise a client can run multiple client software. With multiple clients software installed, a host can connect to multiple servers at a time.
Network Components
The network infrastructure provides a stable and reliable channel over which our communication can occur and it also acts as platform to support the network. The network infrastructure consists of three categories of hardware components:
- End devices: These devices form the interface between the user and the underlying communication network(also known as host). Example: Computers, printers, telephones, mobile devices.
- Intermediate devices: These devices are present in the intermediate path of a network between two or more end devices.
- Network media: It acts as a media to transfer information in a network.
I’ll catch you up in the next part of the series “THE NETWORKING SERIES”.
Stay tuned!!
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