What is a peer-to-peer network

At first glance it may seem that the owner of a computer whose work is not directly connected with the installation, setup and subsequent maintenance of local networks, there is no need to know what is hidden behind the term "peer-to-peer network". Everyone thinks so ... until a decision is made to connect several computers via a cable.

Peer-to-peer networks are widely spread due to simple configuration and quite effective for most tasks. Let's start, perhaps, from the fact that we list some of their fields of application.

Let's imagine a situation known to everyone: there are two computers in the family (sometimes even more). One, personal, the husband - this is a serious computer with powerful components that can easily cope with any task. And the second half - a laptop. His performance is enough for simple casual games, watching movies, modeling hairstyles, etc. There are two computers, an Internet connection is one, and browsing the pages in order of turn is inconvenient. You can, of course, use Wi-Fi, but an additional source of high-frequency radiation is unlikely to benefit health. One solution is a peer-to-peer network. It should be noted, however, that it is possible to organize such a connection via radio access - in this case, the technical features of implementation are not fundamental. In addition, it makes it possible to share different equipment (printers, external drives for CDs), exchange files, etc. An ad-hoc network allows you to connect computers not only in one apartment, but also in a high-rise building, and these are games with friends over the network , Cheaper Internet, distributed at all, a common store of information. Ways of using mass. Well, for residents of the private sector, where only 1-2 providers offer their expensive services, a peer-to-peer network is almost a panacea.

The term "peer-to-peer" means that all computers that are part of such a network are both servers and clients. Each of them is a full-fledged link, independent of others (when connected by means of switches or hubs). For example, the network works, even if out of the total number of machines, at the moment there are only two. The completely opposite solution is the server solution. A specialized computer server is a node to which client machines are connected. Advantages of the last scheme in a larger number of connected clients, the ability to organize a centralized system of protection against malicious programs, caching the claimed data (accelerate the work with resources in the global network) , etc.

Which home networks (within a house, apartment) can be considered peer-to-peer? It is very simple to determine: if the operating system of each computer has the function of access to media (drive, hard drive) and attached devices (scanner, printer) and the central organizing server is not available, then it is a peer-to-peer network.

Also there are combined (combined) versions of networks, at some stages of construction of which the principles of peer-to-peer are used, and at the output, when providing access to global resources, server networks. A vivid example is the local network of a company whose offices are located in the same building: the client machines are interconnected by a peer-to-peer method, and requests to the Internet pass through a single server. The drawback, or rather, the peculiarity of such a solution lies in the more complex wiring and subsequent configuration of all component nodes.

In general, we can say that even now, during the ubiquitous Internet, local peer-to-peer networks are still in demand, because they are best suited for solving a certain range of tasks.