CertiGuide to Network+  9  Chapter 0000:  Network Basics       9  V  Network Models for Resource Sharing

Peer-to-Peer Networks 1 Pop Quiz 0000.00

Client-Server models have all the attributes just mentioned, plus the added abilities of advanced print queues, centralized backups and the ability to manage a greater user load.

It is the load of many users accessing resources as well as the demands of the extra features that typically require larger computers than the standard PC for these centralized resource sharing and management tasks. These larger computers are referred to as Servers, and the computers that access their resources as Clients or, alternately, workstations. All computers on a network, both servers and clients, are sometimes known as hosts, meaning systems which “host” the network communications. Servers are often based upon the same general hardware technology as a network’s clients, although the hardware used generally features higher performance components and more memory and disk capacity than would normally be found on a client computer.

To offer additional features desirable in a centralized environment, servers often run a specialized version of an operating system (OS), called a network operating system (NOS). Network Operating Systems will be described in more detail in a later chapter.

Peer-to-Peer Networks 1 Pop Quiz 0000.00