Dedicated Servers and Peers

In some networks, a server computer is a server computer and nothing else. It's dedicated to the sole task of providing shared resources, such as hard drives and printers, to be accessed by the network client computers. This type of server is a dedicated server because it can perform no other task than network services.

Some smaller networks take an alternative approach by enabling any computer on the network to function as both a client and a server. Thus, any computer can share its printers and hard drives with other computers on the network. And, while a computer is working as a server, you can still use that same computer for other functions, such as word processing. This type of network is a peer-to-peer network because all the computers are thought of as peers, or equals.

Here are some points to ponder concerning the differences between dedicated server networks and peer-to-peer networks while you're walking the dog tomorrow morning:

• Peer-to-peer networking features are built into Windows. Thus, if your computer runs Windows, you don't have to buy any additional software to turn your computer into a server. All you have to do is enable the Windows server features.

• The network server features that are built into desktop versions of Windows (such as Windows XP and Vista) aren't efficient because these versions of Windows weren't designed primarily to be network servers.

  REMEMBER 

  If you dedicate a computer to the task of being a full-time server, use a special network operating system rather than the standard Windows operating system. A network operating system, also known as a NOS, is specially designed to handle networking functions efficiently.

  • The most commonly used network operating systems are the server versions of Windows.

    At the time of publication, the current server version of Windows was Windows Server 2003, and a newer version, probably to be called Windows Server 2007, was on the way.

  • Other network operating systems include Linux and Novell NetWare.

• Many networks are both peer-to-peer and dedicated-server networks at the same time. These networks have

  • At least one server computer that runs a NOS, such as Windows Server 2003.

  • Client computers that use the server features of Windows to share their resources with the network.

• Tip 

  Besides being dedicated, your servers should also be sincere.