NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON WINDOWS NETWORKING TIPS 09/13/04 Today's focus: From client-server to peer-to-peer
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Client-server to peer-to-peer: A short history * Links related to Windows Networking Tips * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Cisco IP Communications represents a major opportunity for businesses large and small. By eliminating the need to maintain separate telephone and data infrastructures, extraordinary benefits are often achieved. For information on the union of telephony and data on a single physical network and the security issues involved see the Special Report IP Telephony Security: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=81046 _______________________________________________________________ CHECK OUT NW FUSION'S NEW WHITE PAPER LIBRARY NW Fusion's White Paper Library was recently re-launched with new features and improved capabilities! Sort NW Fusion's library of white papers by Date and Vendor, view white papers by TECHNCIAL CATEGORY, mouse over white paper descriptions and take advantage of our IMPROVED white paper search engine. CLICK HERE: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=81024 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: From client-server to peer-to-peer By Dave Kearns If it accomplished nothing else, the last issue - on whether or not the word Internet should be capitalized - reinforced my belief that we've been spending too much time talking about "Longhorn" and "Windows XP SP2" lately. More people weighed in with an opinion on the "I" than on all of the other newsletters of the past month or so - you know, the ones about operating systems and patches. Longtime reader Ken Etter reacted to my statement that both intranet and extranet are terms that have dropped out of favor by asking "....our company has always called our internal private Web site an 'intranet'....what is the current label?" Intranets appeared to morph into "portals" around the turn of the century, but let's help Ken out: what do you call your internal private Web site? Send me your answers and perhaps we can chew them over in a future issue. As promised last time, today I want to look at the terms "client-server" and "peer-to-peer". In the 1980s, "client-server" computing was all the rage. This was the system developed for (mostly) personal computers set up in apposition to the mainframe computing of the 60s and 70s. Generally, there were two types of servers: file servers and database servers. As time went on, other types of "servers" were developed: print servers, fax servers, mail servers, even Web servers. Servers, in general, acted upon requests from "clients" (i.e., desktop computers and users) to access shared resources (files, printers, fax machines, etc.). Servers were dedicated machines, dedicated to providing a service to their clients. The 90s, though, saw the introduction (generally ascribed to Windows for Workgroups, although other systems, such as Lantastic, had been around for a few years) of what came to be called "peer-to-peer" networking. Every computer on the network had the capability of being both a server and a client. Users could share out access to their own resources (files, printers, other peripherals, etc.) while continuing to use the PC as their personal machine. These networks were generally quite small. They were limited by the use of unroutable protocols, such as NetBIOS, as well as the need for geometrically escalating management as the number of participants increased. In the late 90s, it appeared that a combination of Web servers and dumbed-down PCs would reinvent mainframe style computing as "network computing." This attempt to remove both Microsoft and personal freedom from the computing landscape had a mercifully short, but highly vocal, run. The dawn of the 21st century showed an inclination to return to the client-server model through the introduction of so-called "Web services." A service almost always requires a server to provide it. Unfortunately, we'd already used the term "Web server" to identify a machine (or service) that provided HTML documents. Web services is an all-encompassing term for services which include HTML documents but also the full panoply of services that the old client server models provided as well as newer services (messaging services, identity services, and so on) which have only recently emerged. But just as the Web services model was resurrecting the benefits of client-server, along came applications such as Kazaa, which attempted to reinvent the peer-to-peer model but on a much broader scale and, of course, using fully routable TCI/IP as its carrier. Mainframe-terminal computing, client-server, workgroup peering, "network computing," Web services (server-client, if you will) and modern "peer-to-peer." As the French say, "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." Today's programmers might say it as "history is a do loop with no exit condition." How would you put it? RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Microsoft's virtual server ruffles feathers Network World, 09/13/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/091304msserver.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Dave Kearns Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>. Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Cisco IP Communications represents a major opportunity for businesses large and small. By eliminating the need to maintain separate telephone and data infrastructures, extraordinary benefits are often achieved. For information on the union of telephony and data on a single physical network and the security issues involved see the Special Report IP Telephony Security: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=81046 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Breaking Windows networking news from Network World, updated daily: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/win2000.html Archive of the Windows Networking Tips newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nt/index.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NETWORK WORLD SPECIAL REPORTS NOW AVAILABLE Focused reports on compelling industry topics, Network World Special Reports are available online at Network World Fusion. Network World Special Reports on IP Telephony Security, the State of Wireless LANs, trends in the networked world and more are currently available. 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