Microsoft® .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting

Client/Server Architecture

Enterprise computing has evolved through several stages. It started with proprietary mainframes and monolithic applications. Later, it spread wildly to desktops and local area networks (LANs) with the client/server model, which suddenly allowed the lowly desktop computer to play a role in sophisticated business applications. The client/server model, for all its flaws, is probably the most successful single model of application design. It has persisted, unchanged, as the dominant application architecture until the past few years.

A typical client/server application is hosted by a server on an internal network. It’s usually an all-in-one package that relies on a back-end database. Multiple clients run the application from ...