Installing and Configuring Windows 10：70-698 Exam Guide

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Understanding clients and servers

As you may know, the network world recognizes two architectures: peer-to-peer (P2P) and client/server architecture. While a P2P network architecture consists of hosts that, depending on network activity, switch roles from client to server and vice versa, in a client/server architecture, hosts have predefined roles where some are clients and some are servers. Clients are the hosts who make requests for network services, whereas the servers are hosts that provide network services. Both clients and servers play an active role in computer networks. In Figure 1.5, the server with a shared printer acts as a print server, and as such it provides print services to the clients in a network. Whereas, the PC, laptop, and smartphone represent the clients that request services:

Figure 1.5 Client/server network architecture

The origin of the word server originates from the word serve. If you search for the word serve in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, among the results you will find is the one that says: to provide services that benefit or help. Thus, a server in a computer network means a computer that provides services to the clients. From that, the server serves the clients.