Peer-to-Peer Networking Disadvantages

• Network security applies only to a single resource at a time .

• Users may be forced to use as many password as there are shared resources.

• Each machine must be backed up individually to protect all shared data.

• Every time a users access a shared resource, the user at the machine where the resouce resides suffers reduced performance.

• There is no centralized organisational scheme to locate or control access to data.

• A peer-to-peer network does not usually work well with more than 10 users.
  

Peer-to-Peer Networking Advantages

• A Peer-to-Peer Network is easy to install and configure.

• Individual machines do not depend on the presence of a dedicated server.

• Individual users control their own shared resources.

• Peer-to-Peer Networking is
  

Peer-to-Peer Networking

As you learned computers on a peer-to-peer network can take both a client and a server role. In a peer-to-peer network, every user must also act as a network administrator. That is each individual users controls access to the resources that reside on his or her machine.

Network Services

Some experts argue that the real reason that networks exist is to deliver services to users, where services primarily reside on separate machines, or servers. The terms "Services" or "Network services" are about as generic as they can be,Thus you may hear that NOS's deliver file and print services, and the protocols deliver file-sharing, e-mail, and all kinds of other capabilities. In keeping with the client/server model for networking, network servers stand ready to deliver network services to those network users who request them.

Network Software

In many network environments, computers invoke a layer of code, sometimes called a network operating system(NOS), that controls which computers and users may access network resources.

Network Protocols

Once connected to a network through a NIC , a computer also must be able to use that connection. That is for two computers on a network to communicate with one another successfully, they must share a common set of rules about how to communicate.

At a minimum, such rules must include how to interpret signals, how to identify "one self " and other computers on a network, how to initiate and end networked communications, and how to manage information exchange across the network medium. Such collections of agreed-upon rules are network protocols, or more simply, protocols.

Protocols are:- TCP/IP, NetBEUI & IPX/SPX or NWLink.

Network Card

To communicate successfully, computers must share access to a common network medium. For most networks, the medium takes the form of a physical cable that interconects the machines it services.

Computer must attach to the network medium using some kind of physical interface, for PC's this is usually a network interface card.

Clients, Peers and Servers

A server is a computer that shares its resources across the network and a client is one that access shared resources.

Another way to understand this relationship is to visualize information interchange best described as request-response.That is a, client request information and a server response to such a request by providing the request information depicts this relationship, called the client/server relationship.

Local and Wide Area Networks

A small network, limited to a single collection of machines and one or more cables and other peripheral equipment, may be called a local area network (LAN)

Wide Area Network (WAN) can grow distances measured in miles and links together two or more separate LAN's. These LAN's may be in locations just down the road from one another or at opposite ends of the planet.

Networking Fundamentals

The most elementary of all networks consists of two computers that are connected to each other using some kind of wire or cable to transmit data from one machine to the other. No matter how many computers may be interlinked, or what kinds of connections may be in use.

• Data sharing premises groups of users to exchange information routinely and to route data from one individual to another as workflow demand.

• Because data sharing also premits message, documents, and other files to circulate among users, it can also improve human communication substantially.

• Peripheral device sharing lets groups of users take advantages of peripherals such as printers, scanners, fax machines, and other devices attached directly to a network or to a generally available computer attached to a network.

What is Networking ?

Networking involves connecting computers for the purpose of sharing information and resources.