Mastering Python Networking - Second Edition

Client-server model

The reference models demonstrated a standard way for data to communicate between two nodes. Of course, by now, we all know that not all nodes are created equal. Even in its DARPA-net days, there were workstation nodes, and there were nodes with the purpose of providing content to other nodes. These server nodes typically have higher hardware specifications and are managed more closely by engineers. Since these nodes provide resources and services to others, they are typically referred to as servers. Servers typically sit idle, waiting for clients to initiate requests for their resources. This model of distributed resources that are asked for by the client is referred to as the client-server model.

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