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Introduction
Commands
SNMP
Client-Server or Peer-to-Peer?
In a client-server network, machines are dedicated to performing a variety of
functions, in some ways like the old mainframe/dumb terminal days. You
might, for instance, have a print server that handles print jobs for every computer
on the network — a highly useful arrangement if, for example, yours is
an enterprise that prepares many invoices, contracts, or other documents. Or
you might have a file server, whose sole purpose is to serve up “boilerplate”
documents or the contents of a huge database, or to serve as the repository of
a big project on which many people collaborate. If your enterprise has an
online presence, you may wish to dedicate one machine (or more) as a Web
server, and perhaps one or more machines as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
server, so that people can download (and upload) files. You’ll probably need
some kind of mail server to handle both external email and messages sent
within the network. Clients are machines connected to such a network. They
are not servers; instead, they rely on network services provided by the server
machines. Clients are usually full, freestanding workstations, although it is
possible to connect dumb terminals — monitor, keyboard, pointing device —
to such a network in some circumstances. To use the services provided by the
server(s), clients need to have accounts on the desired server(s) and must log
in to those accounts.
Apeer-to-peer network resembles a client-server network in that the machines
are wired to each other and some services are shared. But in a peer network,
those shared items — a CD reader, perhaps, or a printer — reside on machines
that are also used for other purposes. If you have a very small, low-traffic
network, a peer-to-peer system might be right for you because it requires no
dedicated server machine(s). Peer networking can prove impractical for highvolume
operations because, for instance, multiple big print jobs will keep the
poor soul who shares his printer from getting much else done.
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