CLIENT SERVER

ARCHITECTURE

BY
KISAKYE DIANA MICHELLE
 INTRODUCTION TO CLIENT/SERVER
What is a Client/ Server Architecture? Client- server is a system that performs both
the functions of client and server so as to promote the sharing of information between
them.
Client - A client can be a machine or program
Client program is a program that allows users to make requests through the web. e.g
Web browser, word processors.
·Server- A server is a computer program that listens to requests and responds to them.
Note: High performance computers are called servers because they run server programs.
A single server can serve multiple clients at the same time.
The client is the requester while the server is the provider of service. In most client-
server environment, the data processing is handled by the server, and the results are
Example
In a workstation, a printer can be attached to a computer (representing the clients) while other computers
sharing from it are the server.

What Is Client-Server System/model? Client-server system can be define as a software architecture

made up of both the client and server, whereby the clients always send requests while the server responds
to the requests sent
Benefits of client server model
• It splits the processing of application across multiple machines
• It allows easier sharing of resources from client to servers.
• It reduces data replication by storing data on each server instead of client.
The Demerits of Client/Server Computing
1. Traffic congestion on the network has been an issue.
2. The client-server paradigm lacks the robustness of a good P2P network. Under client-
server, should a critical server fail, clients’ requests cannot be fulfilled.
Examples of applications using client-server system
3. File transfer: This is the transmission of files between the client and server. It also
allows storing of files on the
4. Mail transfer: This is the transfer of messages such as the email using the Mail
Transfer Protocol (MTP).server. Files such as movies, images, music can be stored.
5. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): Is the transferring of multimedia files such as
images, text between the client and server. HTTP is use to improve communication
between the client and server, by serving as a request-response protocol
 Types of Server
i. File Server
Are useful for sharing information across the network· The client passes
a request for file records over a network to the file server. The file servers
provide access to the remote server processors.
ii. Database Server
The client passes the SQL requests as messages to the database server;
the result of each SQL command is returned over the network.
The database servers provide the foundation for decision-support systems
and also provide key role in data warehousing
iii. Transaction Server
The client can invoke remote procedure or services that reside on the server with an SQL
database engine using the transaction server. The grouped SQL statements are called
transactions. The server component consists of SQL transaction against a database.
These applications are called Online Transaction Processing or OLTP.
iv. Groupware Servers
It involves the management of semi-structured information such as text, image, mail,
bulletin boards and the flow of work.
v. Object Application Servers. The client/server application is written as a set of
communicating
objects with an object server. The client object uses the Object Request Broker (ORB) to
communicate with the server objects. The ORB locates an instance of that object server
class, invokes the requested method and returns the results to the client object.
 ARCHITECTURE
A tier can also be referred to as a layer.
The layers involved in the application
a) Presentation Layer. This is the top most layer of an application that we see
when using a software. By using this layer, we can access web pages, and
communicate with the application layer e.g A login page
b) Application Layer(business layer).It controls an application functionality by
performing detailed processing. It also mediated between the presentation and
Data base layer.
c) Data Layer. This stores the data. The application layer communicates with
Database layer to retrieve the data. It also contains methods that connect the
database and perform required action. E.g INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE
 CLIENT-SERVER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE
Client-server architecture is usually made up of the; application server, database server and PC. The
two main architectures are the 2-tier and 3-tier architecture.
A) ONE TIER ARCHITECTURE
• IT is also known the standalone application.
• It has all the three layers(presentation layer, application layer, Data layer) in a single software
package. E.g MP3 Player, Ms Offcice.
• The data here is stored in a local system drive.
B) 2-TIER CLIENT-SERVER SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
It involves only the Database server and a client PC. the users will run applications on
their PC (Client), which connects through a network to the server. It is considered when
the client has access to the database directly without involving any intermediary. An
example of a two tier client/server structure is a web server. It returns the required web
pages to the clients that requested them.
Advantages of Two - Tier Client/Server Structure
1. This structure is quite easy to maintain and modify.
2. The communication between the client and server in the form of request response
messages is quite fast.
Disadvantages of Two - Tier Client/Server Structure
1. If the client nodes are increased beyond capacity in the structure, then the server is not
able to handle the request overflow and performance of the system degrades.

C) 3-TIER CLIENT/SERVER ARCHITECTURE

This architecture involves the client PC, Database server and Application server. It supports
one server being in charge of many clients and provides more resources in the server. It
involves an intermediary (Application server) also known as middleware.
Advantages of Three - Tier Client/Server Structure
1 The three tier structure provides much better service and fast performance.
2 The structure can be scaled according to requirements without any problem.
3 Data security is much improved in the three tier structure.
Disadvantages of Three - Tier Client/Server Structure
1 Three - tier client/server structure is quite complex due to advanced features.
When can /should you use 3-tier?
if your application has any of the following characteristics then you may
choose 3-tier architecture:
1. Many applications services/classes (around or more than 60)
2. Application programmed in different languages or written by different
organizations
3. An application life longer than 3 years.
4. If there are more than 60,000 transactions per day or more than 300
concurrent users on the same system accessing the same database.
5. Two or more heterogeneous data sources like two DBMS or a DBMS and a
file system.
C) N –TIER Architecture
This is also known as distribution application.
It is similar to 3- tier architecture but the number of application servers are increasing and represented
in individual tiers in order to distribute business logic
 Client Side Services
Print Services
§ The NOS enables the client to generate print requests even when the printer is busy.
§ The client has facility to view the status of the print queue at any time and client is also notified when the
print is completed. Similarly there
are also fax services.
Remote Services
§ Client invokes an application that is executed on a remote server, for example the backup services.
Business functions like downloading
data from host or checking list of stock process might also be invoked locally to run remotely.
Utility Services
The operating system facilitates some local functions which are very often used to perform actions like
edit, copy, move, compare and help
which works on the client end.
.
Message Services
Messages can be sent and received to or from the network synchronously.
The message services provide the buffering, scheduling and arbitration
services to support this function
Dynamic Data Exchange DDE protocol is a set of messages and
guidelines. It sends messages
between applications that share data and uses shared memory to exchange
data between applications. DDE can be used to construct hot links
between applications in which data can be fed from window to window
interruption and intervention.
Eg: A hot link can be created between a 3270-screen session and a word
processing document. Data is linked form the 3270 window into the word
processing document. Whenever the key of the data in the screen changes,
the data linked into the document also changes.
OLE (Object Linking And Embedding) OLE is an extension to DDE.
OLE is designed to let users to focus on data encompassing of words,
numbers and graphics rather than on the software required to manipulate
the data. OLE allows users to integrate data from different applications. It
allows users to share a single source of data for a particular object
Network Services
The client workstation communicates with the network through protocol, some set of
service and API’s that creates, send and receive and format network messages.
Protocols, which are supported, are NetBIOS, IPX, TCP/IP, APPC, Ethernet, Token
Ring, FDDI, X.26 and SNA.
Application Services
The NOS provides custom applications will use their own API’s embedded in an RPC
to
invoke specialized services form a remote server.
Database Services
Database requests are made using the SQL syntax. These are provided to improve
developer productivity and system performance
 Server Side Services
Servers provide application, file, database, print, fax, image,
communications, security, systems, and network management services.
Print Services The server can accept input from many clients, queue it
according to the priority of the request and handle it when the device is
available
Database Services Client/server database engines such as Sybase, IBM's
Database Manager, Ingres, Oracle, and Informix provide support at the
server to execute SQL requests issued from the client workstation.
Security Services Every user should be required to log in with a user ID
and password.
If passwords might become visible to unauthorized users, the security
server should insist that passwords be changed regularly.
File Services File services handle access to the virtual directories and
files located on the client workstation and to the server's permanent
storage.
Communications Services Client/server applications require LAN and
WAN communication services. Various communications server products
provide WAN services.
REFERENCES
1. THE PRACTICLE HANDBOOK OF INTERNET COMPUTING BY MUNINDAH P. SINGH
2. HTTPS://APACHEBOOSTER.COM/BLOG/WHAT-IS-CLIENT-SERVER-ARCHITECTURE-AND-
WHAT-ARE-ITS-TYPES/
3. HTTPS://WWW.TUTORIALSPOINT.COM/STRUCTURE-OF-A-CLIENT-SERVER-SYSTEM