In: Computer Science
WRITE one paragraph summary of the PEER TO PEER NETWORK using the following format. the paragraph must be:
Answer - In a Peer to Peer network , the Peers are computer systems which are connected to each other via the internet. Files can be shared directly between systems on the network without the help of central server. A peer to peer network is created when two or more computer are connected and share resources without going through a separate server computer.
In this network , a group of computers are linked together with equal permissions and responsibilities fro processing data. Peer to peer network comes with number of benefits. For an example , in a client-server model , if a server goes down , it can take the whole network with it.But in Peer to peer ,if a single device goes down , the others on the network can help pick up the slack.
It is basically used for security concerns. Peer to peer network are vulnerable to security attacks because each device participates in routing traffic through the network , hackers can easily launch denial of service attacks. Peer to peer software acts as a server and client which makes peer to peer networks more vulnerable to remote attacks than client server networks. Data that is corrupt can be shared on peer to peer networks by modifying files that are already on the network to introduce malicious code.
Advantages of Peer to Peer are -
1) It doesnot require any operating system.
2) It doesnot need any expensive server because individual workstations are used to access the files.
3) It dont need any specialist staffs.
4) If one computer fails , it will not disrupt any other part of the network.
Disadvantages of Peer to Peer are -
1) It can slow down the performance of the user because each computer might be accessed by others.
2) Files and folder can not be centrally backed up.
3) Files and resources are not centrally organized into a specific shared area. They are stored on individual computer and might be difficult to locate.