N8. Server Systems

Question 1

Purpose of Server Systems

Answer 1

• To provide access to remote/static resources and to provide application services
• Check and implement operations requested by the client (access control and security)
• Check & interpret network communication
• Report system events and errors

Question 2

What is meant by server scalability?

Answer 2

Providing service and resources for many users not just one

Simultaneous access for many users

Question 3

What is meant by server performance?

Answer 3

Provide satisfactory service for each user

Performance impact for individual users limited as service is scaled

Question 4

What is a front-end service provided by a server?

Answer 4

• customer-facing

- queue of requests

Question 5

What is a back-end service provided by a server?

Answer 5

has resources not directly accessible to customers

Question 6

How might servers be dealing with multiple users/requests?

Answer 6

• use queues for many requests (client & server)

- use threads for tasks (client & server)

Question 7

How might multiple requests be dealt with at a server?

Answer 7

Using a FIFO queue

• a task takes incoming requests and queues them
• one or more other tasks process the request
• use an array for holding requests
• tail: where next request gets queued
• head: first request to be processed
  (Also possible to use a circular queue)