Client/Server Networking Technologies - Term Paper Example

Interoperability is the ease with which other vendors can use architectures from other vendor while scalability is the optimality that the architecture in question will bring to the organization (ZDNet.com). The client is the object which requests for services while the server is the object which provides the services that have been requested by the client. There are other configurations whereby the client and the server is configured to be one machine. The resources of the computer acting for both must be high.

The introduction of client server architectures was a sigh of relieve for file server architectures which proved to be inefficient in many ways. The introduction of this architecture makes it possible to have user queries to answered directly using relational database management system. This architecture eased the traffic that is imposed in the network because of the query response rather than the total file transfer. When this architecture is implemented, multiple users are able to update a shared database through a GUI front end.

The communication between the client and the server is achieved through Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) or standard query language (SQL) (ZDNet.com). 2-tier architecture With 2-tier architecture, the client requests resources and the server responds directly without using any other application; in doing so, the server uses its own resources. The server does not call on another server so they share the provision of the service. This is one of the examples of client/server architectures where the user interface is located in the user’s desktop environment which is a small computer with less powerful features.

The users are many and all of them are being served by the server. The services of database management are normally endowed to the server which is a powerful machine which serves many client machines. The processing of information is usually split between those of the client dealing with requests from the server and that of processing requests by the database, which is usually done by the server. The server, which handles the database, also supports for stored procedures and triggers. There are tools which have been provided by software vendors which are used for simplifying application development for the 2-tier client/server architecture.

There are limitations which come with 2-tier architectures which include the fact that there is no prioritization with the requests. There are requests which are made to the server which are uncalled for. A request may not be that important and yet it is sent to the server thus wasting processor time solving petty issue. This time could be used to attend to more serious matters (ZDNet.com). 3-tier architecture This client/server architecture was introduced to eradicate the problems that were associated with 2-tier architecture.

With this architecture, a middleware lies between the server and the client. They are implemented in several ways, which include implementation as a message server, or application server or processing monitors. The functions of the middleware are queuing, execution of applications, staging of the databases, and prioritization for work in progress. This architecture improves performance when the number of users is increased. It has the advantage of flexibility when compared to 2-tier architecture.

One of the downsides of this architecture is the fact that the development is more complex than that of 2-tier applications. There