Client and Server Technologies

client-server model (client-server architecture)

Client-server is a relationship in which one program (the client) requests a service or resource from
another program (the server). At the turn of the last century, the label client-server was used to
distinguish distributed computing by personal computers (PCs) from the monolithic, centralized
computing model used by mainframes.

Today, computer transactions in which the server fulfills a request made by a client are very common
and the client-server model has become one of the central ideas of network computing. In this context,
the client establishes a connection to the server over a local area network (LAN) or wide-area network
(WAN), such as the Internet. Once the server has fulfilled the client's request, the connection is
terminated. Because multiple client programs share the services of the same server program, a special
server called a daemon may be activated just to await client requests.

In the early days of the internet, the majority of network traffic was between remote clients requesting
web content and the data center servers that provided the content. This traffic pattern is referred to as
north-south traffic. Today, with the maturity of virtualization and cloud computing, network traffic is
more likely to be server-to-server, a pattern known as east-west traffic. This, in turn, has changed
administrator focus from a centralized security model designed to protect the network perimeter to a
decentralized security model that focuses more on controlling individual user access to services and
data, and auditing their behavior to ensure compliance with policies and regulations.

Advantages and disadvantages of the client-server model

An important advantage of the client-server model is that its centralized architecture helps make it
easier to protect data with access controls that are enforced by security policies. Also, it doesn't matter
if the clients and the server are built on the same operating system because data is transferred through
client-server protocols that are platform-agnostic.

An important disadvantage of the client-server model is that if too many clients simultaneously request
data from the server, it may get overloaded. In addition to causing network congestion, too many
requests may result in a denial of service.

Client-server protocols

Clients typically communicate with servers by using the TCP/IP protocol suite. TCP is a connection-
oriented protocol, which means a connection is established and maintained until the application
programs at each end have finished exchanging messages. It determines how to break application data
into packets that networks can deliver, sends packets to and accepts packets from the network layer,
manages flow control and handles retransmission of dropped or garbled packets as well as
acknowledgement of all packets that arrive. In the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communication
model, TCP covers parts of Layer 4, the Transport Layer, and parts of Layer 5, the Session Layer.

In contrast, IP is a connectionless protocol, which means that there is no continuing connection between
the end points that are communicating. Each packet that travels through the Internet is treated as an
independent unit of data without any relation to any other unit of data. (The reason the packets do get
put in the right order is because of TCP.) In the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communication
model, IP is in layer 3, the Networking Layer.

Other program relationship models

Other program relationship models included master/slave and peer-to-peer (P2P). In the P2P model,
each node in the network can function as both a server and a client. In the master/slave model, one
device or process (known as the master) controls one or more other devices or processes (known as
slaves). Once the master/slave relationship is established, the direction of control is always one way,
from the master to the slave.

Computer Network Types

A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that enables the computer to
communicate with another computer and share their resources, data, and applications.

A computer network can be categorized by their size. A computer network is mainly of four
types:

 LAN(Local Area Network)

 PAN(Personal Area Network)
 MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
 WAN(Wide Area Network)

LAN(Local Area Network)

 Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area such as
building, office.
 LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a communication medium
such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
 It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters, and
ethernet cables.
 The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in Local Area Network.
 Local Area Network provides higher security.
PAN(Personal Area Network)

 Personal Area Network is a network arranged within an individual person, typically within a
range of 10 meters.
 Personal Area Network is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use is known as
Personal Area Network.
 Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to bring the idea of the Personal Area
Network.
 Personal Area Network covers an area of 30 feet.
 Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area network are the laptop,
mobile phones, media player and play stations.
There are two types of Personal Area Network:

 Wired Personal Area Network

 Wireless Personal Area Network

Wireless Personal Area Network: Wireless Personal Area Network is developed by simply
using wireless technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth. It is a low range network.

Wired Personal Area Network: Wired Personal Area Network is created by using the USB.

Examples Of Personal Area Network:

 Body Area Network: Body Area Network is a network that moves with a person. For example, a
mobile network moves with a person. Suppose a person establishes a network connection and
then creates a connection with another device to share the information.
  Offline Network: An offline network can be created inside the home, so it is also known as a
home network. A home network is designed to integrate the devices such as printers,
computer, television but they are not connected to the internet.
 Small Home Office: It is used to connect a variety of devices to the internet and to a corporate
network using a VPN

MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)

 A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area by

interconnecting a different LAN to form a larger network.
 Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private industries.
 In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone exchange line.
 The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
 It has a higher range than Local Area Network(LAN).

Uses Of Metropolitan Area Network:

 MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.

 It can be used in an Airline Reservation.
 It can be used in a college within a city.
 It can also be used for communication in the military.
WAN(Wide Area Network)

 A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical area such as states or
countries.
 A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.
 A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over a large geographical
area through a telephone line, fibre optic cable or satellite links.
 The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.
 A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business, government, and education.

Examples Of Wide Area Network:

 Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or country.

 Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services to the customers in
hundreds of cities by connecting their home with fiber.
 Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects the 44 offices. This network is
made by using the telephone leased line provided by the telecom company.

Advantages Of Wide Area Network:

Following are the advantages of the Wide Area Network:

  Geographical area: A Wide Area Network provides a large geographical area. Suppose if the
branch of our office is in a different city then we can connect with them through WAN. The
internet provides a leased line through which we can connect with another branch.
 Centralized data: In case of WAN network, data is centralized. Therefore, we do not need to buy
the emails, files or back up servers.
 Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server. Therefore, the programmers get
the updated files within seconds.
 Exchange messages: In a WAN network, messages are transmitted fast. The web application like
Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype allows you to communicate with friends.
 Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we can share the software and other
resources like a hard drive, RAM.
 Global business: We can do the business over the internet globally.
 High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this gives the high bandwidth.
The high bandwidth increases the data transfer rate which in turn increases the productivity of
our company.

Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:

The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:

 Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as compared to LAN and MAN network
as all the technologies are combined together that creates the security problem.
 Needs Firewall & antivirus software: The data is transferred on the internet which can be
changed or hacked by the hackers, so the firewall needs to be used. Some people can inject the
virus in our system so antivirus is needed to protect from such a virus.
 High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high as it involves the purchasing of
routers, switches.
 Troubleshooting problems: It covers a large area so fixing the problem is difficult.

Internetwork

 An internetwork is defined as two or more computer network LANs or WAN or computer

network segments are connected using devices, and they are configured by a local addressing
scheme. This process is known as internetworking.
 An interconnection between public, private, commercial, industrial, or government computer
networks can also be defined as internetworking.
 An internetworking uses the internet protocol.
 The reference model used for internetworking is Open System Interconnection(OSI).

Types Of Internetwork:

1. Extranet: An extranet is a communication network based on the internet protocol such as

Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. It is used for information sharing. The
access to the extranet is restricted to only those users who have login credentials. An extranet is
the lowest level of internetworking. It can be categorized as MAN, WAN or other computer
networks. An extranet cannot have a single LAN, atleast it must have one connection to the
external network.

2. Intranet: An intranet is a private network based on the internet protocol such as

Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. An intranet belongs to an organization
which is only accessible by the organization's employee or members. The main aim of the
intranet is to share the information and resources among the organization employees. An intranet
provides the facility to work in groups and for teleconferences.

Intranet advantages:

 Communication: It provides a cheap and easy communication. An employee of the organization

can communicate with another employee through email, chat.
 Time-saving: Information on the intranet is shared in real time, so it is time-saving.
 Collaboration: Collaboration is one of the most important advantage of the intranet. The
information is distributed among the employees of the organization and can only be accessed by
the authorized user.
 Platform independency: It is a neutral architecture as the computer can be connected to
another device with different architecture.
 Cost effective: People can see the data and documents by using the browser and distributes the
duplicate copies over the intranet. This leads to a reduction in the cost.

Network Devices
Types of network devices

Here is the common network device list:

 Hub
 Switch
 Router
 Bridge
 Gateway
 Modem
 Repeater
 Access Point

Hub

Hubs connect multiple computer networking devices together. A hub also acts as a repeater in
that it amplifies signals that deteriorate after traveling long distances over connecting cables. A
hub is the simplest in the family of network connecting devices because it connects LAN
components with identical protocols.
A hub can be used with both digital and analog data, provided its settings have been configured
to prepare for the formatting of the incoming data. For example, if the incoming data is in digital
format, the hub must pass it on as packets; however, if the incoming data is analog, then the hub
passes it on in signal form.

Hubs do not perform packet filtering or addressing functions; they just send data packets to all
connected devices. Hubs operate at the Physical layer of the Open Systems Interconnection
(OSI) model. There are two types of hubs: simple and multiple port.

Switch

Switches generally have a more intelligent role than hubs. A switch is a multiport device that
improves network efficiency. The switch maintains limited routing information about nodes in
the internal network, and it allows connections to systems like hubs or routers. Strands of LANs
are usually connected using switches. Generally, switches can read the hardware addresses of
incoming packets to transmit them to the appropriate destination.

Using switches improves network efficiency over hubs or routers because of the virtual circuit
capability. Switches also improve network security because the virtual circuits are more difficult
to examine with network monitors. You can think of a switch as a device that has some of the
best capabilities of routers and hubs combined. A switch can work at either the Data Link layer
or the Network layer of the OSI model. A multilayer switch is one that can operate at both layers,
which means that it can operate as both a switch and a router. A multilayer switch is a high-
performance device that supports the same routing protocols as routers.

Switches can be subject to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks; flood guards are used to
prevent malicious traffic from bringing the switch to a halt. Switch port security is important so
be sure to secure switches: Disable all unused ports and use DHCP snooping, ARP inspection
and MAC address filtering.

Router

Routers help transmit packets to their destinations by charting a path through the sea of
interconnected networking devices using different network topologies. Routers are intelligent
devices, and they store information about the networks they’re connected to. Most routers can be
configured to operate as packet-filtering firewalls and use access control lists (ACLs). Routers,
in conjunction with a channel service unit/data service unit (CSU/DSU), are also used to
translate from LAN framing to WAN framing. This is needed because LANs and WANs use
different network protocols. Such routers are known as border routers. They serve as the outside
connection of a LAN to a WAN, and they operate at the border of your network.

Router are also used to divide internal networks into two or more subnetworks. Routers can also
be connected internally to other routers, creating zones that operate independently. Routers
establish communication by maintaining tables about destinations and local connections. A
router contains information about the systems connected to it and where to send requests if the
destination isn’t known. Routers usually communicate routing and other information using one
of three standard protocols: Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Border Gateway Protocol
(BGP) or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).

Routers are your first line of defense, and they must be configured to pass only traffic that is
authorized by network administrators. The routes themselves can be configured as static or
dynamic. If they are static, they can only be configured manually and stay that way until
changed. If they are dynamic, they learn of other routers around them and use information about
those routers to build their routing tables.

Routers are general-purpose devices that interconnect two or more heterogeneous networks.
They are usually dedicated to special-purpose computers, with separate input and output network
interfaces for each connected network. Because routers and gateways are the backbone of large
computer networks like the internet, they have special features that give them the flexibility and
the ability to cope with varying network addressing schemes and frame sizes through
segmentation of big packets into smaller sizes that fit the new network components. Each router
interface has its own Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) module, its own LAN address (network
card address) and its own Internet Protocol (IP) address. The router, with the help of a routing
table, has knowledge of routes a packet could take from its source to its destination. The routing
table, like in the bridge and switch, grows dynamically. Upon receipt of a packet, the router
removes the packet headers and trailers and analyzes the IP header by determining the source
and destination addresses and data type, and noting the arrival time. It also updates the router
table with new addresses not already in the table. The IP header and arrival time information is
entered in the routing table. Routers normally work at the Network layer of the OSI model.

Bridge

Bridges are used to connect two or more hosts or network segments together. The basic role of
bridges in network architecture is storing and forwarding frames between the different segments
that the bridge connects. They use hardware Media Access Control (MAC) addresses for
transferring frames. By looking at the MAC address of the devices connected to each segment,
bridges can forward the data or block it from crossing. Bridges can also be used to connect two
physical LANs into a larger logical LAN.

Bridges work only at the Physical and Data Link layers of the OSI model. Bridges are used to
divide larger networks into smaller sections by sitting between two physical network segments
and managing the flow of data between the two.

Bridges are like hubs in many respects, including the fact that they connect LAN components
with identical protocols. However, bridges filter incoming data packets, known as frames, for
addresses before they are forwarded. As it filters the data packets, the bridge makes no
modifications to the format or content of the incoming data. The bridge filters and forwards
frames on the network with the help of a dynamic bridge table. The bridge table, which is
initially empty, maintains the LAN addresses for each computer in the LAN and the addresses of
each bridge interface that connects the LAN to other LANs. Bridges, like hubs, can be either
simple or multiple port.
Bridges have mostly fallen out of favor in recent years and have been replaced by switches,
which offer more functionality. In fact, switches are sometimes referred to as “multiport bridges”
because of how they operate.

Gateway

Gateways normally work at the Transport and Session layers of the OSI model. At the Transport
layer and above, there are numerous protocols and standards from different vendors; gateways
are used to deal with them. Gateways provide translation between networking technologies such
as Open System Interconnection (OSI) and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP). Because of this, gateways connect two or more autonomous networks, each with its
own routing algorithms, protocols, topology, domain name service, and network administration
procedures and policies.

Gateways perform all of the functions of routers and more. In fact, a router with added
translation functionality is a gateway. The function that does the translation between different
network technologies is called a protocol converter.

Modem

Modems (modulators-demodulators) are used to transmit digital signals over analog telephone
lines. Thus, digital signals are converted by the modem into analog signals of different
frequencies and transmitted to a modem at the receiving location. The receiving modem
performs the reverse transformation and provides a digital output to a device connected to a
modem, usually a computer. The digital data is usually transferred to or from the modem over a
serial line through an industry standard interface, RS-232. Many telephone companies offer DSL
services, and many cable operators use modems as end terminals for identification and
recognition of home and personal users. Modems work on both the Physical and Data Link
layers.

Repeater

A repeater is an electronic device that amplifies the signal it receives. You can think of repeater
as a device which receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher power so that the
signal can cover longer distances, more than 100 meters for standard LAN cables. Repeaters
work on the Physical layer.

Access Point

While an access point (AP) can technically involve either a wired or wireless connection, it
commonly means a wireless device. An AP works at the second OSI layer, the Data Link layer,
and it can operate either as a bridge connecting a standard wired network to wireless devices or
as a router passing data transmissions from one access point to another.

Wireless access points (WAPs) consist of a transmitter and receiver (transceiver) device used to
create a wireless LAN (WLAN). Access points typically are separate network devices with a
built-in antenna, transmitter and adapter. APs use the wireless infrastructure network mode to
provide a connection point between WLANs and a wired Ethernet LAN. They also have several
ports, giving you a way to expand the network to support additional clients. Depending on the
size of the network, one or more APs might be required to provide full coverage. Additional APs
are used to allow access to more wireless clients and to expand the range of the wireless network.
Each AP is limited by its transmission range — the distance a client can be from an AP and still
obtain a usable signal and data process speed. The actual distance depends on the wireless
standard, the obstructions and environmental conditions between the client and the AP. Higher
end APs have high-powered antennas, enabling them to extend how far the wireless signal can
travel.

APs might also provide many ports that can be used to increase the network’s size, firewall
capabilities and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service. Therefore, we get APs
that are a switch, DHCP server, router and firewall.

To connect to a wireless AP, you need a service set identifier (SSID) name. 802.11 wireless
networks use the SSID to identify all systems belonging to the same network, and client stations
must be configured with the SSID to be authenticated to the AP. The AP might broadcast the
SSID, allowing all wireless clients in the area to see the AP’s SSID. However, for security
reasons, APs can be configured not to broadcast the SSID, which means that an administrator
needs to give client systems the SSID instead of allowing it to be discovered automatically.
Wireless devices ship with default SSIDs, security settings, channels, passwords and usernames.
For security reasons, it is strongly recommended that you change these default settings as soon as
possible because many internet sites list the default settings used by manufacturers.

Access points can be fat or thin. Fat APs, sometimes still referred to as autonomous APs, need to
be manually configured with network and security settings; then they are essentially left alone to
serve clients until they can no longer function. Thin APs allow remote configuration using a
controller. Since thin clients do not need to be manually configured, they can be easily
reconfigured and monitored. Access points can also be controller-based or stand-alone.

Network Addressing
 Network Addressing is one of the major responsibilities of the network layer.
 Network addresses are always logical, i.e., software-based addresses.
 A host is also known as end system that has one link to the network. The boundary between the
host and link is known as an interface. Therefore, the host can have only one interface.
 A router is different from the host in that it has two or more links that connect to it. When a
router forwards the datagram, then it forwards the packet to one of the links. The boundary
between the router and link is known as an interface, and the router can have multiple
interfaces, one for each of its links. Each interface is capable of sending and receiving the IP
packets, so IP requires each interface to have an address.
 Each IP address is 32 bits long, and they are represented in the form of "dot-decimal notation"
where each byte is written in the decimal form, and they are separated by the period. An IP
address would look like 193.32.216.9 where 193 represents the decimal notation of first 8 bits
of an address, 32 represents the decimal notation of second 8 bits of an address.
 Let's understand through a simple example.

 In the above figure, a router has three interfaces labeled as 1, 2 & 3 and each router interface
contains its own IP address.
 Each host contains its own interface and IP address.
 All the interfaces attached to the LAN 1 is having an IP address in the form of 223.1.1.xxx, and
the interfaces attached to the LAN 2 and LAN 3 have an IP address in the form of 223.1.2.xxx and
223.1.3.xxx respectively.
 Each IP address consists of two parts. The first part (first three bytes in IP address) specifies the
network and second part (last byte of an IP address) specifies the host in the network.

Classful Addressing

An IP address is 32-bit long. An IP address is divided into sub-classes:

 Class A
 Class B
 Class C
 Class D
 Class E

An ip address is divided into two parts:

 Network ID: It represents the number of networks.

 Host ID: It represents the number of hosts.
In the above diagram, we observe that each class have a specific range of IP addresses. The class
of IP address is used to determine the number of bits used in a class and number of networks and
hosts available in the class.

Class A

In Class A, an IP address is assigned to those networks that contain a large number of hosts.

 The network ID is 8 bits long.

 The host ID is 24 bits long.

In Class A, the first bit in higher order bits of the first octet is always set to 0 and the remaining 7
bits determine the network ID. The 24 bits determine the host ID in any network.

The total number of networks in Class A = 27 = 128 network address

The total number of hosts in Class A = 224 - 2 = 16,777,214 host address

Class B

In Class B, an IP address is assigned to those networks that range from small-sized to large-sized
networks.
  The Network ID is 16 bits long.
 The Host ID is 16 bits long.

In Class B, the higher order bits of the first octet is always set to 10, and the remaining14 bits
determine the network ID. The other 16 bits determine the Host ID.

The total number of networks in Class B = 214 = 16384 network address

The total number of hosts in Class B = 216 - 2 = 65534 host address

Class C

In Class C, an IP address is assigned to only small-sized networks.

 The Network ID is 24 bits long.

 The host ID is 8 bits long.

In Class C, the higher order bits of the first octet is always set to 110, and the remaining 21 bits
determine the network ID. The 8 bits of the host ID determine the host in a network.

The total number of networks = 221 = 2097152 network address

The total number of hosts = 28 - 2 = 254 host address

Class D

In Class D, an IP address is reserved for multicast addresses. It does not possess subnetting. The
higher order bits of the first octet is always set to 1110, and the remaining bits determines the
host ID in any network.
Class E

In Class E, an IP address is used for the future use or for the research and development purposes.
It does not possess any subnetting. The higher order bits of the first octet is always set to 1111,
and the remaining bits determines the host ID in any network.

Rules for assigning Host ID:

The Host ID is used to determine the host within any network. The Host ID is assigned based on
the following rules:

 The Host ID must be unique within any network.

 The Host ID in which all the bits are set to 0 cannot be assigned as it is used to represent the
network ID of the IP address.
 The Host ID in which all the bits are set to 1 cannot be assigned as it is reserved for the multicast
address.

Rules for assigning Network ID:

If the hosts are located within the same local network, then they are assigned with the same
network ID. The following are the rules for assigning Network ID:

 The network ID cannot start with 127 as 127 is used by Class A.

 The Network ID in which all the bits are set to 0 cannot be assigned as it is used to specify a
particular host on the local network.
 The Network ID in which all the bits are set to 1 cannot be assigned as it is reserved for the
multicast address.

Classful Network Architecture

Higher HOST ID No.of No.of hosts per
Class NET ID bits Range
bits bits networks network

A 0 8 24 27 224 0.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255

128.0.0.0 to
B 10 16 16 214 216
191.255.255.255

C 110 24 8 221 28 192.0.0.0 to

 223.255.255.255

Not Not 224.0.0.0 to

D 1110 Not Defined Not Defined
Defined Defined 239.255.255.255

Not Not 240.0.0.0 to

E 1111 Not Defined Not Defined
Defined Defined 255.255.255.255