What is terminal computer and server computer?
Terminal computer: Every computer that is part of a computer network is called a terminal or node. The users using different terminal computers can share information and send or receive data from one terminal to another.
Server computer
A server computer in a computer network is used as a central computer. It controls other computers in the network. Server computer is more powerful than terminals.
Discuss different networks models.
There are two models of computer networks. These are as follows:
1. Client-server model
2. Peer-to-peer Model
(1.) Client –server model/dedicated server network
in client-server modeli one or more computers work as servers and other computers work as clients. The server computer controls the whole network. It is used to store data and programs to be shared among different computers in the network. It may also share a printer attached with it. Server is more powerful computer than other computers in the network performs most of the processing in this network model.
The client computer requests a service from the server computer. The server computer provides the requested service to the client computer.
Some servers are called dedicated servers. A dedicated server is used to perform a specific task, for example, file server is used to store and mange files. A print server is used to manage printers and printing tasks. Similarly, network server manages network resources.
Advantages
Some important advantages of client- server model are as follows:
1. It reduces the volume of data traffic on the network.
2. It also provides faster responses to the clients.
3. It can use less powerful computers as clients because most of the processing is done by the server computer.
Disadvantages
1. It is expensive model because server computers are costly.
2. The operations stop all over the network when server goes down.
(2) peer-to-peer Model
All computers in peer-to-peer model have same status. There is no server computer to control other computers. Each computer in this network can have access to the devices and files on the other computers. Each computer independently stores its own software and information.
Advantages
Some important advantages of peer-to-peer model are as follows:
1. It is easy to setup.
2. It is easy to maintain.
3. It does not require expensive server computer.
4. It is suitable for small office of ten or less computers.
Disadvantage
The main disadvantages of this model are as follows:
1. Heavy use can slow down the network speed.
2. It also provides less security of data because files are stored at different locations in the network.
Hybrid model
Hybrid model is a combination of client/server model and peer-to-peer model. Many networks use a mixture of both network models. This model can provide the advantages of both models.