Client (computing)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A computer network diagram of client computers communicating with a server computer via the Internet

Client is a computer that gets information from another computer called server in the context of client–server model of computer networks.[1] The server is often (but not always) on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network.[2]

A client is a computer or a

online video games may run as a client on each computer.[3]
The term "client" may also be applied to computers or devices that run the client software or users that use the client software.

A client is part of a

Internet sockets, programs may connect to a service operating on a possibly remote system through the Internet protocol suite
. Servers wait for potential clients to initiate connections that they may accept.

The term was first applied to

devices that were not capable of running their own stand-alone programs, but could interact with remote computers via a network. These computer terminals were clients of the time-sharing mainframe computer
.

Types

Client types and their features
Relies on
local storage 		Relies on
local
CPU
Fat client Yes Yes
Diskless node No Yes
Thin client No No

In one classification, client computers and devices are either

thick clients, thin clients, or diskless nodes
.

Thick

Main article:
Thick client

A thick client, also known as a rich client or fat client, is a client that performs the bulk of any data processing operations itself, and does not necessarily rely on the

Sketchup) that ultimately shares the result of its work on a network is a thick client. A computer that runs almost entirely as a standalone machine save to send or receive files via a network is by a standard called a workstation
.

Thin

Main article: Thin client
A thin client computer

A thin client is a minimal sort of client. Thin clients use the resources of the host computer. A thin client generally only presents processed data provided by an

Office Web Apps) is a thin client.[4]

Diskless node

A diskless node is a mixture of the above two client models. Similar to a fat client, it processes locally, but relies on the server for storing persistent data. This approach offers features from both the fat client (multimedia support, high performance) and the thin client (high manageability, flexibility). A device running an online version of the video game Diablo III is an example of diskless node.

References

  1. ^ "1.1.2.2 Clients and Servers". Cisco Networking Academy. Retrieved 2024-04-07. Servers are hosts that have software installed that enable them to provide information...Clients are computer hosts that have software installed that enable them to request and display the information obtained from the server.
  2. ISBN 978-0-470-22513-4
    .
  3. ^ a b c "client/server". PCMag Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  4. S2CID 723321
    .
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