Benefits And Constraints Of Peer-to-Peer And Client/Server-based Networks, OSI And TCP/IP Models, Network Physical Topologies, Network Hardware And Software, And Role Of Servers

Peer-to-Peer Network

1. Peer-to-peer Network: This is a network where the computers that are connected to each other do not have a centralized authority but all the connected computers are equal within the network. The computers within the network can serve both as a client requesting for the resources as well as the server which helps in providing the resources. Small scale organizations mostly use peer to peer networks since they make the use of limited number of computers.

• The peer to peer network is very easy for the process of implementation and it is even quite inexpensive for operation and implementation. There is need of a central server. There is a need of a Hub or Switch that helps in the connection of the computers together. Therefore, the machines are also behaving as the server which runs the files for the computers connected within the circuit. There is no need of any extra administrators or equipments.
• Even if one computer within the network does not work accordingly, the other computers within the network would keep on operating within the network. The robustness is increased when failures occur when the peer to peer network is in distributed mode. During these kinds of situations, the data keeps on replicating over multiple peers.
• The peer to peer network can be controlled within the shared resources in the network.

• The security within the network is very minimal since the only security that is provided within the entire network at a shared level. This means that all the computers that are within the network that can access the shared files when there is no password to secure the files. However, there is still no guarantee that a password can save the file from being accessed without authority because any computer that has the ability to share files within a network cannot make sure about the information about the accessing of files. Even if there are passwords to protect the files, this would not guarantee that unauthorized access cannot happen within the files.
• The central backup of files cannot occur when the entire network of the adjoining computers that share a space centrally within the network. This simply means that there is a possibility that when a file is created by a specific user, it would become much difficult to recover or locate the file when the creator is not present.
• The sharing and the receiving of the files are absolutely left unmonitored since they are adjoined in a centralized peer to peer network. The administration in this regard is much difficult.

This is a computer network that involves a powerful machine, called the server, which manages the network within a centralized point to handle the entire network. The mechanism of this network depends upon the user sending a request to the server and the server then responds accordingly to make sure if the request made by the server can be returned to access the resource required on the server.

The network design described above are mostly seen to be used in the schools and also in the organizations who are focusing on managing their networks to make sure that the people who are accessing the networks have been assigned with the authority to access these files and the network resources.

• The benefit of the Client/Server based network is that the management system is of a centralized format which provides the monitoring of computers in one area. This provides the administrator to make sure that all the relevant settings are provided to the computers connected within the network and the configurations of all the connected computers are clarified accordingly.
• The rights of a user to access files are demarcated within the network by the server, which enables the users to have a restricted access over their zone of use. They can access the data that are only allocated to them and not anyone else’s.
• The available updates and the technology updates can be feasibly uploaded through remote servers and then they could be integrated the computers and devices even from the remote areas through the servers. This helps the entire network to perform such actions in lesser time than usual.

• When too many requests are sent to the servers by the clients, it can occur that the server is overloaded and this can also result in slowing down of the system and an eventual breakdown. This is a harmful phenomenon since there is a possibility that the server can fail thus harming the whole system further as it would fail the server completely.
• The entire process of a computer network to be handled by server as a centralized structure and the clients sending requests to them is an expensive process and it also requires that network operating system software be also involved and also along with it the relevant expertise personnel are involved. The administration of the entire network system is difficult and only with experienced personnel would ensure that the operation within the system is being carried out efficiently.

The way that a network is arranged and the way the network system is described is known as a Network Topology. The physical topology of a network can be defined as the description of the layout that the cables have and the workstations and locations of the network components as a whole. When two or more devices are connected together, it is known as a link and when two or more links are joined together, it forms a topology.

The four types of topologies that are physical in nature and which are generally found are the bus, ring, star and mesh. These can be described as below:

Bus Network Topology: The topology where within a networking system all the computers are connected via a common cable is known as Bus Network Topology. The common cable connects the computers be series from one to the other with the help of the interface connectors. The central cable helps all the computers to be connected each other. However, it is not seen in the latest time that a physical bus topology is being used in the latest networks. On the other hand, there are still networks that logically operate through the bus network topology.

Ring Network Topology: In this Networking system, the computers would be connected via the networking cable making a structure of a circle or a ring. The passing of information within these computers occur via the passing of information to the adjacent proximity computer that has been set by the ring structure. Each computer while the traversing of information, is handled by the packets while information is transferred. The ring topology consists of two different kinds of of structure. They are single ring topology and dual ring topology. These ring topology structures are to be described as follows:

• Single Ring Topology: In a single ring topology, the data begins to travel in a singular direction. Since all the computers within the network are connected within a shared single cable, the computers wait for their turn while data packets are being sent over the network.
• Dual Ring Topology: This is a topology setup where two rings make use of the allowed data packets for helping the travel of the data packets in both the directions. This setup has an advantage where when one ring experiences failure, the other ring could still be there to transfer the data packets through the system.

When a data is addressed for the hosts and not addressed to the neighbours, the data is passed on to the adjacent connected host unless the data packet is transferred to the next connected host when it fails to reach to the recipient host. This is a process by which the information can be easily passed on to any given host within the required network. It may also be possible that the data packet passed from one computer to the other is not a direct packet connection since it may occur that the data is transferred through many hosts before reaching the destination host arriving at the destination. Ring topologies are not found any more in use.

Benefits:

Star Topology happens to be one of the most used and most common physical topology. In this particular physical topology, the computers within the network are connected by a cable, which is knows as a drop cable. The drop cable is as actually a twisted pair cable which is generally used for connecting every computer to a central point known as switch, hub, router or computer. This central point keeps on acting as a data flow repeater. The different protocols used in a Star Network Topology makes it act somewhat like the Bus or Ring topology. When one host is in need of sending data to the other host, the data first needs to be transferred to some other host, then the information would be sent to the central connecting device. The information is then replicated by the central connecting device and then it is transferred to the relevant and appropriate host.

In this kind of physical topology, there is no presence of the concept of a central point like the main computer or a hub. The computers connected within the network are mostly interconnected within each other. There are two types of network topology design of mesh network topology which are Fully Mesh Network Topology and Partial Network Topology. In a Fully Mesh Network Topology, all the nodes within the connection are connected to each other individually. On the other hand, in a Partial Mesh Topology, the nodes within the network are not entirely connected to each other. The Mesh Network Topology most has existences as a theoretical topology, which is only feasibly implemented via the wireless networking. This can be understood with the example of ad-hoc, which is implemented in the similar way. The central connecting point is absent in ad-hoc and in place of that, each of the wireless host helps in establishing a direct communication with any other wireless hosts.

2. The model with the help of which network communications can be divided into seven separate layers is known as Open System Interconnection of OSI model. The OSI model has a description for the interaction between each layer. This model can also form a reference for the model in networking layers to understand the communication applications over a network. The seven layers at as described as below:

OSI model	Layers	Description
Application	7	These are responsible for the applications and network processing
Presentation	6	This helps in the conversion of the data formats for the provision of standard interface which is present in the application layer.
Session	5	The establishment, management and termination of the connection according between the remote and local applications
Transport	4	Head in the delivery of the end-to-end connection providing consistency and reliability
Network	3	Logical addressing and domain for routing is responsibility of this phase
Data link	2	Helps in the provision of the physical addressing providing media access procedures
Physical	1	Provide solution for the physical and electrical stimulation for the devices

A similar to the OSI model, there is not a primary lean on networking model which has the ability to divide a network communication between four layers and this model is known as TCP / IP net working model or transmission control protocol / internet protocol model. This model develops the interconnection of network devices on the internet but this is only possible shooting the communication protocols throughout. this networking model as the ability of stipulating the switching off data over the internet with the help of delivering end to end communication which categorise is the fact on how the transmission data should be divided into smaller packets and should be routed transmitted are addressed and inward bound at the destination.

TCP/IP model	Layers	Description
Application	4	Data is presented to the user
Transport	3	Delivery of the end to end data services
Internet	2	Helps in network path regulation
Network access	1	Network access controlling is done by the hardware components of the network

Constraints:

OSI model	TCP/IP model
Application layer 7	Application layer 4
Presentation layer 6
Session layer 5
Transport layer 4	Transport layer 3
Network layer 3	Internet layer 2
Data link layer 2	Network access layer 1
Physical layer 1

If the 5th 6th and 7th layer of the OSI model and accumulated together it can be seen that they are almost like the application layer of the TCP / IP model. The only difference between them is that TCP / IP do not possess a different presentation layer or session layer.

When it comes to both the reference model of OSI and TCP / IP it can be said that every layer has a specialised service in relevance to the layer that is just above it for providing the seamless communication process through the network. for the development of standard communication model for equipment and applications it is required that the various vendors uses the OSI model. On the other hand when TCP / IP suit of protocols used it is relevant the TCP / IP model is specifically used.

3. In both the networking models of TCP / IP and OSI, the application layer has various protocols which provide interface formed between the application programs of various kinds within a device. This can be explained as below:

• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): This is used for requesting the web browser to transfer the web pages via internet.
• Simple Mail Transfer protocol (SMTP): This is sending and receiving of email messages through email websites and email programs.

Hypertext transfer protocol communicates between the network systems in a standardized way. The way in which the communication happens are depicted by the way the communication operates when a user chooses a uniform resource locator or any URL while surfing the internet on the computer. Hypertext transfer protocol every send request to IP address with help of the computer containing the web page and then the request is feasibility and it by the hyper text transfer protocol that exist within the computer which can send it back again to the webpage in suitable format.

On the other hand, the SMTP servers are used for sending emails and are used for storing the email addresses of the senders and recipients. Response IP address is me to identify by deleting into the domain name system or DNS servers, which is the newest to establish a connection sandwiched between the sender and receiver. Furthermore the transmitting of the data within the email is established within the communicating devices with the help of this SMTP server.

Outbound Mail: The internet protocol version 4 or IPv4 is the IP protocols 4th edition that primarily is being used widely as a protocol for data communication via different network of various kinds. This is a service that resides in the network layer in OSI model but for the TCP / IP model this service resides in the internet layer. It is a standard as communication that takes place between the network system of different kinds and helps in the delivery of a logical connection in between the network devices. This is done to provide a proper identification for every device in connection between the networks. It can be configured in various ways and with every type of devices; however, both the manual and automatic configuration depends on the type of network.

4.

Network Device	Function
Server	This is a particular type of server that consists of the domain name server or DNS, the web servers as well as the mail servers. The server of domain name server has the record of a database of domain names which is normally the names used in human language stored on the web portals. it is in translated to the human language name and also into numerals and dresses which is understandable by a computer and is used for the accession of a particular website. This is where the web server enable the access two websites and with this the mail service also provides the access over the electronic mails, like the sending and receiving storage and other services provided by mails..
Switch	The function of a network switch offers at layer 2 of the OSI model and this helps in the connection of the devices put together within a computer network that has been used by the packet switching for the processing receiving and sharing of data to a destination device.
Router	Router happens to be a functional part of the third layer of OSI model that function like a switch and helps in the connection of computers that Falls together with in a network. In addition to that a router helps in the direction of traffic in a network device and enables a mode of communication between names for switching the flood traffic within each of the network ports. Routers also provide security measures for the network and the computers bounded in them.
Hub	A hub is normally a simple device that provides functionality at the first OSI model level and health in the connection of multiple local area network or LAN devices at the same time. The cell in the functioning of repeating the electrical signals that has been received by one port in a network and relies on the signals to the ports that have been connected together. in the modern network the haves and no longer available since they are very inexpensive and a simple sweets can provide the services which previously was offered by hubs.
Wireless Devices	Wireless devices are facilitated by wireless networks that provide these devices to communicate with each other and the network source utilising the network. Communication is in standard and more the devices that access point communication starts to occur instantaneously.
3G/4G mobile	A 3G or 4G mobile supports both the networks connected to a phone via the internet. The only difference is that the access speed of 4G is much more than 3G. It is up to 10 times faster than the third generation when used in the real world and ranges between 20 megabytes per second to 50 megabytes per second. the speed however fluctuates depending on the position of the device from the network and the power of the radius that are within the phone.

5. A particular Client Operating System or OS is the one that makes the human interactions between computer desktops and other portable devices possible. This is important for the centralized server’s standard operating system could only support one user at a time. Normal and most commonly used client operating system would include a Microsoft Windows 10 and MAC OS X by Apple. Hindi song writing systems server are specifically manufactured for performing a run on the service the software that is situated at the top of all the other software programs and application helps it run the server hardware. Other client operating systems are Windows server 2012 and Mac OS X server.

Client/Server-based Network

6. Firewall: The screening of a network is done by the network security system of firewall. These are used for the control and influence of networking conducted through security rules that has been arranged previously and has the ability of monitoring the outgoing and incoming network traffic. It is then decided whether the network traffic and the influence of the network would be allowed or blocked in. It can also be put together that firewall is an amalgamation of the hardware or software or it can also happened that a firewall is a blend of both. Graphical user interface ODI of a Windows operating system is something that people are mostly accustomed with. Based on that the windows new technology and Windows 2000 server that are meant to be the most commonly used service elections means installation of the fire old very easy and the approximate cost of installation varies between different sellers but approximately ranges within 999 USD.

Email Web: The web based electronic mail accounts which are freely used and can be operated from different websites like Yahoo mail hot mail in Gmail can be termed as email web. The email as control and influence over the network that allows a user to access the person email accounts when they get access over the internet as well as the web browser or application. It was the majority of the operating system that connected to the internet with the sole purpose of enabling the centre and the receiver of emails via the web based email accounts.

Virtualization: In this process the partitioning of the physical layer happens to be divided into various virtual servers so that everyone of two separated virtual server can internet independently with any other user or device in real time. This presence of computer generated hardware and operating system for virtualizations turns a single physical machine to partition into and functions like several virtual machines. Total cost of implementation of virtualisation can vary differently depending on the service provider. Based on the assumptions Microsoft has scheme of providing free service for 12 months and then to 150 GBP for 12 months.

References

Abbasi, Q.H., Yang, K., Chopra, N., Jornet, J.M., Abuali, N.A., Qaraqe, K.A. and Alomainy, A., 2016. Nano-communication for biomedical applications: A review on the state-of-the-art from physical layers to novel networking concepts. IEEE Access, 4, pp.3920-3935.

Adesemowo, A.K. and Gerber, M., 2014. E-skilling on fundamental ICT networking concepts–Overcoming the resource constraints at a South African university. In Proceedings of the e-Skills for Knowledge Production and Innovation Conference (pp. 1-16).

Aveyard, S., 2018. What is the Purpose of a Computer Server. [Online]
Available at: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/what-is-the-purpose-of-a-computer-server

Berendsohn, W.G. and Geoffroy, M., 2016. Networking. Taxonomic. Concepts.—. Uniting. without.‘Unitary-ism’. In Biodiversity Databases (pp. 25-34). CRC Press.

Brower, N., 2016. Microsoft. [Online] Available at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-desktop-optimization-pack/appv-v4/application-virtualization-system-requirements [Accessed 16 October 2018].

cicnavi, 2011. Overview of Network Types and Topologies. [Online] Available at: https://www.utilizewindows.com/overview-of-network-types-and-topologies/

Coker, O. and Azodolmolky, S., 2017. Software Defined Networking with OpenFlow.

Comer, D.E., 2018. The Internet book: everything you need to know about computer networking and how the Internet works. Chapman and Hall/CRC.

Edwards, J. and Bramante, R., 2015. Networking self-teaching guide: OSI, TCP/IP, LANs, MANs, WANs, implementation, management, and maintenance. John Wiley & Sons.

Foukas, X., Marina, M.K. and Kontovasilis, K., 2015. Software Defined Networking Concepts. Software Defined Mobile Networks (SDMN): Beyond LTE Network Architecture, p.21.

Hanlon, J., 2018. 3G vs 4G: What’s the difference?. [Online] Available at: https://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/Guides/The-difference-between-3G-and-4G

Kreutz, D., Ramos, F.M., Verissimo, P.E., Rothenberg, C.E., Azodolmolky, S. and Uhlig, S., 2015. Software-defined networking: A comprehensive survey. Proceedings of the IEEE, 103(1), pp.14-76.

Lu, H.K. and Lin, P.C., 2017. A Study of the Impact of Collaborative Problem-Solving Strategies on Students’ Performance of Simulation-Based Learning–A Case of Network Basic Concepts Course. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 7(5), p.361.

Mahapatra, N., Sahu, N., Nanda, S., Kaur, G. and Prahar, M., 2017. Unit-3 Networking Concepts.

Microsoft, 2018. Microsoft Azure. [Online] Available at: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/free/virtual-machines/search/?&OCID=AID719823_SEM_qNcFdVsr&lnkd=Google_Azure_Nonbrand&dclid=CI_1_KaQjN4CFdtA4Aod7FEMvw [Accessed 27 November 2018].

Microsoft, 2018. microsoft. [Online] Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/search?q=nt+server [Accessed 10 10 2018].

Mijumbi, R., Serrat, J., Gorricho, J.L., Bouten, N., De Turck, F. and Boutaba, R., 2016. Network function virtualization: State-of-the-art and research challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 18(1), pp.236-262.

Mousa, M., Bahaa-Eldin, A.M. and Sobh, M., 2016, December. Software Defined Networking concepts and challenges. In Computer Engineering & Systems (ICCES), 2016 11th International Conference on (pp. 79-90). IEEE.

Pearson, 2018. Network topologies. In: Higher Nationals In Computing Core Textbook. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, pp. 46-52.

Pooch, U.W., 2018. Telecommunications and Networking: 0. CRC Press.

Reeves, B., 2015. Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). In: Computer Science. London: Hodder Education, pp. 349-351.

Rehman, J., 2018. https://www.itrelease.com/2017/01/advantages-disadvantages-network-operating-system/. [Online] Available at: https://www.itrelease.com/2017/01/advantages-disadvantages-network-operating-system/ [Accessed 10 October 2018].

Rouse, M., 2018. Search Server Virtualization. [Online] Available at: https://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/definition/network-virtualization[Accessed 16 October 2018].

Sahingoz, O.K., 2014. Networking models in flying ad-hoc networks (FANETs): Concepts and challenges. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 74(1-2), pp.513-527.

Sahingoz, O.K., 2014. Networking models in flying ad-hoc networks (FANETs): Concepts and challenges. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 74(1-2), pp.513-527.

O. U., 2018. Identify network hardware and protocols. [Online] Available at: https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=129583

Teach-ICT, 2002. Teach-ICT. [Online] Available at: https://www.teach-ict.com/gcse_new/networks/peer_peer/miniweb/pg5.htm
[Accessed 2018 October 2018].

Wilkins, S., 2015. Routers and Switches and Hubs, Oh My! An Introduction to Network Devices and Their Functions. [Online]
Available at: https://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2434666