The client/server computing architecture is a message-based and modular infrastructure that is intended to improve on centralized, time sharing mainframe computing. 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 and the functions it is performing.

In a network, the client/server model provides a convenient way to interconnect programs that are distributed efficiently across different locations. The client/server model has become one of the central ideas of network computing. Most business applications being written today use the client/server model. The Internet's core technology TCP/IP provides infrastructure for the communication between client and server.

In the usual client/server model, one server, sometimes called a daemon, is activated and awaits client requests. Typically, multiple client programs share the services of a common server program. Both client programs and server programs are often part of a larger program or application. Relative to the Internet, the Web browser is a client program that requests services (the sending of Web pages or files) from a Web server (which technically is called a Hypertext Transport Protocol or HTTP server) in another computer somewhere on the Internet. Similarly, your computer with TCP/IP installed allows the user to make client requests for files from File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers in other computers on the Internet.

Client/Server Computing Architecture:

Client/Server Computing Architecture

Related Terms: Mainframe architecture, Peer to Peer, Master/Slave, Thin Client

Reference Links: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/str/descriptions/clientserver_body.html: Client/Server Software Architecture C An Overview