Advantages and Disadvantages of the Client Server Methodology

Advantages

Organizations often seek opportunities to maintain service and quality competition to sustain its market position with the help of technology where the client/server model makes an effective impact. Deployment of client/server computing in an organization will positively increase productivity through the usage of cost-effective user interfaces, enhanced data storage, vast connectivity and reliable application services. 

If properly implemented its capable of improving organizational behavior with the help of the knowledgeable worker-who can manipulate data and respond to the errors appropriately.

•  Improved Data Sharing

Data is retained by usual business processes and manipulated on a server is available for designated users (clients) over an authorized access. The use of Structured Query Language (SQL) supports open access from all client aspects and also transparency in network services depict that similar data is being shared among users.

• Integration of Services

Every client is given the opportunity to access corporate information via the desktop interface eliminating the necessity to log into a terminal mode or another processor. Desktop tools like spreadsheet, power point presentations etc can be used to deal with corporate data with the help of database and application servers resident on the network to produce meaningful information.

• Shared Resources amongst Different Platforms

Applications used for client/server model is built regardless of the hardware platform or technical background of the entitled software (Operating System S/W) providing an open computing environment, enforcing users to obtain the services of clients and servers (database, application, communication servers).

• Inter-Operation of Data

All development tools used for client/server applications access the back-end database server through SQL, an industry-standard data definition and access language, helpful for consistent management of corporate data. Advanced database products enable user/application to gain a merged view of corporate data dispersed over several platforms. Rather than a single target platform this ensures database integrity with the ability to perform updates on multiple locations enforcing quality recital and recovery.

•  Data Processing capability despite the location

We are in an era which undergoes a transformation of machine-centered systems to user-centered systems. Machine-centered systems like mainframe, mini-micro applications had unique access platforms and functionality keys, navigation options, performance and security were all visible. Through client/server users can directly log into a system despite of the location or technology of the processors. 

•  Easy maintenance

Since client/server architecture is a distributed model representing dispersed responsibilities among independent computers integrated across a network, it’s an advantage in terms of maintenance. It’s easy to replace, repair, upgrade and relocate a server while clients remain unaffected. This unawareness of change is called as encapsulation. 

•  Security

Servers have better control access and resources to ensure that only authorized clients can access or manipulate data and server-updates are administered effectively.

Disadvantages-compared to peer-peer networks

•          Overloaded servers

When there are frequent simultaneous client requests, servers severely get overloaded, forming traffic congestion. But in a P2P network adding more nodes will increase its bandwidth since it’s calculated as the sum of bandwidths of each node in the network.( slideshare 2011)

•         Impact of centralized architecture

Since its centralized if a critical server fails, client requests are not accomplished. Therefore client/server lacks robustness of a good P2P network (resources are distributed among many nodes).

Bibliography

·         slideshare. (2011). Client Server Architecture. [Online]. Available from: http://www.slideshare.net/suks_87/client-server-architecture-presentation. [Accessed: 20th January 2011]