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| 7.3 |  | Troubleshooting TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols |
| 7.3.2 |  | Client-server systems |

A client-server model is a network architecture in which a computer (client) requests access to services offered on another remote host (server). The model provides a convenient way to remotely interconnect programs located in different locations. Computer transactions using the client-server model are very common.

Clients are PCs or workstations on which users run applications. Clients rely on servers for resources, such as files, devices, and even processing power.

A client is defined as a requester of services and a server is defined as the provider of services. A single machine can be both a client and a server depending on the software configuration.

Servers are powerful computers dedicated to managing disk drives (file servers), printers (print servers), or network traffic (network servers). A server receives a request and, after any necessary processing, the requested file is returned to the client. Typically, multiple client programs share the services of a common server.

Figure shows client-server examples.