SPECIAL IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS - Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals - page 412

File Server

Database
Server

Communications
Server

Print Server

Figure 13-21 Logical client/server architecture.

Thin Client
(without
disk)

Server

Site 2 Site 3

Communications
Network

Client
and
Server

Fat Client
(with disk)

Site 4

Site 1

Figure 13-22 Physical client/server architecture configurations.

both client and server machines have the necessary software, ODBC, the current
standard, provides an Application Programming Interface (API) to call the DBMS
from the client side. Most DBMS vendors provide ODBC drivers for their data-
bases. Query results are sent to the client machine, which formats and displays the
results as necessary. Similarly, JAVA client programs can access the DBMS through
another interface known as JDBC.
Figure 13-22 provides a sample of physical client/server architecture configura-
tions. Note the different configurations at various sites.