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Flip to reveal answersWhat makes something a server?
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All 5 Flashcards — Servers
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Question
What makes something a server?
Answer
It runs software that **waits for requests and responds**. A **role**, not a kind of hardware — one machine can run several.
Question
What does centralising on a server buy?
Answer
**One copy** of the data, permissions and backup in one place, shared powerful hardware, and one update reaching everyone.
Question
What is the main risk of client–server, and the answer?
Answer
A **single point of failure** and a bottleneck — answered by **redundant servers behind a load balancer**.
Question
Client–server or peer-to-peer?
Answer
**Client–server** centralises control and consistency. **Peer-to-peer** has no single failure point and **gets faster as peers join**, but security and consistency are harder.
Question
Scaling up or out?
Answer
**Up** — a bigger machine; simple, but has a ceiling and is still one failure point. **Out** — more machines; no ceiling, but the software must allow it.
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Topic 2.2 hub
Network architecture
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