Peer-to-PeerSome networks do not require dedicated servers—every computer can perform
both server and client functions. A peer-to-peer network enables any or
all of the machines on the network to act as a server. Peer-to-peer networks are
much cheaper than client/server networks, because the software costs less and
does not require that you purchase a high-end machine to act as the dedicated
server. The most popular peer-to-peer NOSs today are Windows 2000/XP and
Macintosh OS X.
The biggest limiting factor to peer-to-peer networking is that it’s simply not
designed for a large number of computers.Windows has a built-in limit (10) to
the number of users who can concurrently access a shared file or folder.Microsoft
recommends that peer-to-peer workgroups not exceed 15 PCs. Beyond that,
creating a domain-based network makes more sense.
Security is the other bigweakness of peer-to-peer networks. Each systemon a
peer-to-peer network maintains its own security.
Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional enable you to
tighten security by setting NTFS permissions locally, but you are still required
to place a local account on every system for any user who’s going to access resources.
So, even though you get decent security in aWindows 2000 Professional
orWindows XP Professional peer-to-peer network, systemadministration entails
a lot of running around to individual systems to create and delete local users every
time someone joins or leaves the network.
Peer-to-peer workgroups are little more than a pretty way to organize systems
to make navigating throughMyNetwork Places a little easier .
In reality,workgroups have no security value. Still, if your networking needs are
limited—such as a small home network—peer-to-peer networking is an easy
and cheap solution.