Client / Server

Topology

You work in a room with three other people. Instead of asking your colleague to come over to your desk or saving data to a floppy diskette and passing it around, you want to give your colleague quick access to a file on your hard drive. A peer to peer network is a simple solution--just add a network interface card (NIC) to each system, connect the four systems with cabling and begin sharing information. Bloom MicroTech's cost-efficient workstations can be configured with network interface cards and your choice of Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows® 95. Next, configure the operating system to recognize the other workstations. Each person in the office determines which hard drive files and resources they wish to share. The diagram below illustrates a peer to peer network.

Peer to peer networks allow economical communication with other users when there is a limited amount of data to exchange. Sharing expensive peripherals becomes easy. And your productivity will increase with the ability to send files and messages without having to leave your workstation.

Physical constraints are part of the peer to peer networking concept. All users must be located in the same general area. If you exceed 3-5 users with this type of network, it may become very difficult to manage. Because there is no dedicated server to handle the file and print sharing administration, peer to peer networking may not be practical for intensive file transfer/storage or heavy printer sharing applications.