Network Operating System

Mr.Jervhy D. Ardiente
Lecturer, BSCPE
 Network Operating System

What is an Operating System?

- is a system software that manages the hardware resources and provides
services to the Application software.
- basically a collection of software that manages computer hardware resources
and provides common services for computer programs. Operating system is a
crucial component of the system software in a computer system.
What is a Network Operating System?
- is a computer operating system that facilitates to connect and communicate
various autonomous computers over a network.
- mainly runs on a powerful computer, that runs the server program. It
facilitates the security and capability of managing the data, user, group,
application, and other network functionalities.

There are mainly two types of Network O.S., they are:

Peer-to-Peer
- is an operating system in which all the nodes are functionally and
operationally equal to each other.
 Advantages of the Peer-to-Peer Network
• Easy to setup
• Low setup cost
• No requirements for any specialized software
• Fast and easy resource sharing
Disadvantages of the Peer-to-Peer Network
• Performance may not be good when sharing some resources.
• No centralized management.
• Less secured.
• No centralized storage system.

Client-Server
- operates with a single server and multiple client computers in the network.

Advantages of the Client-Server Network

• Has centralized control and administration.
• Has a backup facility for lost data.
• Shared data and resources can be accessed by multiple clients.
• Better reliability and performance.
Disadvantages of the Client-Server Network
• High setup cost.
• There is a need for an administrator to administer the network.
• Huge amount of client requests may overload the server.
• Requires specialized software for client and server to function.

Common Functionalities of the Network Operating System:

• Data and Resource sharing
• Performance
• Security
• Robustness
• Scalability
• Memory management
What is a Distributed Operating System?
- is an essential type of operating system. Distributed systems use many central
processors to serve multiple real-time applications and users. As a result, data
processing jobs are distributed between the processors.
- Collection of independent, networked, communicating and physically separate
computational nodes.

Advantages of having a Distributed Operating System

• Load balancing – work is evenly distributed
• Computation Speedup – computation time will be less
• Hardware Preference – need specialized hardware at a different site
• Data Access – process are executed where the certain file is present
Goals and Features of Distributed Operating System
- Connecting Users and Resources
Must make it easy for the users to get access to the resources present
at different remote locations.
- Transparency
Make the user believe that he is using a single computer system. The
complexity behind the system must be hidden from the user.
- Scalability
Efficiency must not get affected by the increasing number of
computational nodes.
- Reliability
Work should not be interrupted.
- Performance
Faster response time.
Difference Between Network Operating System and Distributed Operating System

Network Operating System

• The main object of this system is to provide local services to remote clients.
• The communication takes place depending on the files.
• It is more scalable in comparison to Distributed Operating System.
• It has less fault tolerance.
• The rate of autonomy in a network operating system is high.
• It is easy to implement.
• The nodes of a network operating system can have different operating system.
Distributed Operating System
• The main objective of this system is to manage the resources of the hardware.
• The communication takes place depending on messages and shared memory.
• It is less scalable in comparison to Network Operating System.
• The fault tolerance is high.
• The rate of autonomy in a distributed operating system is less.
• It is not easy to implement.
• All the nodes of a distributed operating system should have same operating
system.

Servers in Computer Network

- In computing, a server is a computer program or a device that provides
functionality for called clients which are other programs or devices.
- Servers can provide various functionalities called services. These services
include sharing data or resources among multiple clients, or performing
computation for a client. Multiple clients can be served by a single server, and
a single client can use multiple servers.
What is a Client Process?
- A client process may run on the same device. It can also connect over a
network to a server to run on a different device.
- Most frequently client–server systems are implemented by the request–
response model., i.e., a client sends a request to the server.
What is a Request–Response model?
- In this model server performs some action and sends a response back to the
client, typically with a result or acknowledgement. Designating a computer as
server-class hardware means that it is specialized for running servers on it.
Types of Servers and their applications:
Application server – These servers hosts web apps (computer programs that run
inside a web browser) allowing users in the network to run and use them preventing the
installation a copy on their own computers. These servers need not be part of the World
Wide Web. There clients are computers with a web browser.
Catalog server – These servers maintains an index or table of contents of information
that can be found across a large distributed network. Distributed network may include
computers, users, files shared on file servers, and web apps. Examples of catalog
servers are Directory servers and name servers. Their clients are any computer
program that needs to find something on the network. Example can be a Domain
member attempting to log in, an email client looking for an email address, or a user
looking for a file
Communications server – These servers maintains an environment needed for one
communication endpoint to find other endpoints and then communicates with them.
These servers may or may not include a directory of communication endpoints and a
presence detection service, depending on the openness and security parameters of the
network. Their clients are communication endpoints.
Computing server – These servers share vast amounts of computing resources which
include CPU and random-access memory over a network. Any computer program that
needs more CPU power and RAM than a personal computer can probably afford can
use these types of servers. The client must be a networked computer to implement the
client–server model which is necessity.
Database server – These servers maintains and shares any form of database over a
network. A database is a organized collections of data with predefined properties that
may be displayed in a table. Clients of these servers are spreadsheets, accounting
software, asset management software or virtually any computer program that consumes
well-organized data, especially in large volumes.
Fax server – These servers share one or more fax machines over a network which
eliminates the hassle of physical access. Any fax sender or recipient are the clients of
these servers.
File server – Shares files and folders, storage space to hold files and folders, or both,
over a network Networked computers are the intended clients, even though local
programs can be clients
Game server – These servers enables several computers or gaming devices to play
multiplayer games. Personal computers or gaming consoles are their clients.
Mail server – These servers makes email communication possible in the same way as
a post office makes snail mail communication possible. Clients of these servers are
senders and recipients of email
Print server – These servers share one or more printers over a network which
eliminates the hassle of physical access. Their clients are computers in need of printing
something.
Proxy server – This server acts as an intermediary between a client and a server
accepting incoming traffic from the client and sending it to the server. Reasons to use a
proxy server includes content control and filtering, improving traffic performance,
preventing unauthorized network access or simply routing the traffic over a large and
complex network. There clients are any networked computer.
Web server – These servers hosts web pages. A web server is responsible for making
the World Wide Web possible. Each website has one or more web servers. There
clients are computers with a web browser.

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