1. Peer-to-Peer Network :
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- A peer-to-peer network is a distributed network architecture composed of participants that make a portion of their resources, such as processing power, disk storage or network bandwidth directly to network participants without the need for central coordination instances.
- Used largely for sharing of content files such as audio, video, data or anything in a digital format.
- There are many p2p protocols such as Ares, Bittorrent, or eDonkey.
- Can be very large
- Can also be used for business solutions for relatively small companies that may not have resources available to implement a server solution.
- Peer to peer network is useful for a small network containing less than 10 computers on a single LAN.
- In peer to peer network each computer can function as both client and server.
- Peer to peer networks do not have a central control system. There are no servers In peer networks.
- Peer networks are amplified into home group.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Uses less expensive computer hardware | Not very secure |
Easy to administer | No central point of storage or file archiving |
No NOS required | Additional load on computer because of resource sharing |
More built in redundancy | Hard to maintain version control |
Easy setup and low cost |
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2. Client/Server Network :
- In client-server network relationships, certain computers act as server and other act as clients.
- A server is simply a computer, that available the network resources and provides service to other computers when they request it.
- A client is the computer running a program that requests the service from a server.
- Local area network(LAN) is based on client server network relationship.
- A client-server network is one network which all available network resources such as files, directories, applications and shared devices, are centrally managed and hosted and then are accessed by client.
- Client server network are defined by the presence of servers on a network that provide security and administration of the network.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Very secure | Requires professional administration |
Better performance | More hardware-intensive |
Centralized backup | More software-intensive |
Very reliable | Expensive dedicated software |