An Introduction to Client/Server Architecture

Dr. Farid Farahmand

A Brief History: Open Platform

The good old days Octopus-like mainframes Only a few venders to choose from Farms of disks where required Applications were specific for each machine Open platform New client/server architecture Open system allowed mix-and-match

Different application technologies could be purchased from different venders Examples: server platform, client platform, network protocols, middleware software, etc.

What is Client/Server (C/S) Computing

It started as PCs became more powerful

PCs were no longer dumb terminals

Provided an open and flexible environment C/S is considered as a form of distributed

software

Distinct characteristics of C/S

Client-server is a computing architecture which separates a client from a server It is almost always implemented over a computer network

The most basic type of client-server architecture employs only two types of nodes: clients and servers.
This type of architecture is sometimes referred to as two-tier. It allows devices to share files and resources. Server provides the service Client is considered as the customer requesting the service The server service can be shared among a number of clients Clients must request or initiate the service The location of the server in the network is transparent to clients Transaction between C/S is message-passing based C/S architecture is scalable

horizontally (more clients can added) Vertically (more servers can be added)

The server is centrally maintained where as clients are independent of each other

Systems with C/S Architecture

File servers

File sharing and file processing Passing file results Example: Query in DBMS server Typically one single request/reply

Client

Data base servers Client

Server

Transaction servers

Transaction server includes DBMS and transaction monitoring Server has remote procedures run online by the client Super-fat servers and thin clients Uses HTTP protocol Java was first to introduce interactive C/S forms

web servers

Client HTML Client JAVA

Internet
Server

Application

Client/Server Models
Where to push the application to Fat clients

The bulk of the application is running on the client The client knows how the data is organized and where it is Different clients access the same applications different ways The server more complicated The clients are less complex More of the code runs on the server The network interaction is minimized

Fat servers

Application
Client Server

Middleware Software
It is the (/) between client and server which glues them together

Allowing the client request for a service and the server providing it Middleware can also be between server/server Two broad classes General

LAN servers, TCP/IP, Communication stacks, Queuing services, etc. Used to accomplish a specific task Groupware specific: SMTP Internet specific: HTTP Database specific: SQL

Application specific

Two-Tier vs. Three-Tier Architecture

Same basic idea as fat-client versus fat-server Depends on how the application is divided between the server

and the client Two-tier servers Examples: file servers and database server In this case the process (application logic) is buried within the client or server (or both) Three-tier servers Examples: Web and distributed objects In this case the process is run on the middle-tier separated from the user and data interface They can integrate the data from multiple sources More robust and more scalable

Client/Server Building Blocks

Purpose

How to divide the application between the client and server What are different functionalities of client and server Basic client server model Fits various applications

Client

Middle ware

Server

Single Machine
Middle ware Client Server

Small office Small business Enterprise Global

Client

Middle ware

Server

Client

Server

C/S

Middle ware

C/S

C/S

C/S

Servers and Client Building Blocks

Client Middleware Server

Web Browser GUI DSM OS

Service-Specific; DSM NOS (securit, peer-to-peer, directory, distributed files); Transport stack (TCP/IP)

Web server Groupware DMBS Etc.

NOS=Network operating system

Server Scalability

PC Server Asymmetric Multiprocessing Superserver symmetric Multiprocessing Superserver

Multiservers

Server Scalability

Superserver

A very powerful server Single-server or multiserver Each server can have a single processor or multiprocessor Multiprocessing can be Asymmetric or Symmetric

Multiprocessing
Asymmetric: each processor is dedicated to a specific task Fully symmetric (SMP): applications are divided into threads and threads are sent to available processors
Examples: 32-bit NT, Unix, NetWare Requires 3 basic functionalities: Global scheduling I/O sharing structure OS access sharing

Multiservers

Pool of servers, providing more processing power (also called a cluster) They divide the task between different servers As opposed to full blown servers Provides a background process on the client machine that can accept unsolicited networks request (refreshing database, synchronizing time, etc.)

Server lite

OS Wars

General trends

More powerful PCs (fat PCs, Network PCs, Multimedia PCs) Embedded devices (cell phones) Clients Super clients Servers SMP servers Clusters DOS and Windows 3.x/95 JAVA OS OS/2 Wrap NT/XP/2000/2003/VISTA NetWare (Novells, poor application server, fast file server) Unix Linux Specialized parallel OS for clusters

Operating system applications

OS players

Client/Server Networking Model

Networking in Linux follows the client/server model Server provides the resource (web server) Client talks to the server (browser, e-mail program) Server has a corresponding program that

communicates with the client (runs in the background)

In Windows the server program called service In Linux the server program called daemon in Linux

UNIX/Linux
UNIX was introduced in 1969 Linux is from the early 1990s Based on MINIX Three basic components Kernel central portion of OS File system provides input and output mechanisms Shell provides user interface

Linux Introduction
Source code is freely available

Developers can make changes

Available from a number of organizations

(called disro)

Red Hat Mandrake SuSe

Linux Resource
List of Linux compatible hardware: http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/ List of hardware issues and forums for Linux http://www.linuxcompatible.org/ Third-party utilities allowing Windows to read the

drives of a Linux installation on the same machine

http://pro.mount-everything.com/ http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/ overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80

Fedora Linux

Two ways to obtain

Installation CD Download and burn your own CD Read to see how to burn a DVD http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/i386/iso/ http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/4/i386/iso/

Obtain a copy

Fedora core 6, i386 Intel x86 processor compatible, first CD ISO image

FC-6-i386-disc1.iso
Popular Windows CD burning tools: http://iso.snoekonline.com/iso.htm You can also use CD BurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

When you have dowloaded the ISO images, you need to burn them on CD/DVD

Summary
Got it?

Homework 1 Linux Monday

Visit Fedora Core Web cite. What is the latest version of

Fedora? Burn a copy of Fedora Core 4 on CDs or DVD. You must have this in order to install Linux on your machine You are not allowed to do the lab without your own CD. Search for Linux Commands and obtain a one or two-page long list of some of Linux commands used with Fedora Core 4 version In your own words, list 5-10 differences between Fedora Core 4 and Fedora Core 7 version. You must tabulate your answer. Do a little research and briefly explain the sequence involved in installing Windows and Linux. What will you do if Windows is already installed? NOTE: Submit a hardcopy only.

references

http://www.nakov.com/inetjava/lectures/part-1-sockets/InetJava-1.1-NetworkingBasics.html http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/idg4/nd2011.htm on ISDN Learn about 2-Tier and 3-Tier systems:

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/str/descriptions/clientserver_body.html