Introducing Client/Server Systems

By: Yasmeen Shabana

BSc of Electrical Engineering and Power Machines.

MSc of Software Engineering.

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Among the issues that arise while developing and implementing client/server systems is the
managerial considerations. Adopting client/server architecture changes the data-processing style and
alters the effect of these changes on the organisation. (Coronel and Morris, 2015) emphasis on five
managerial issues; management and support of communications infrastructure, management and
support of applications, control of escalating and hidden costs, managing people and cultural changes,
and managing multiple vendor relationships. It is essential that managers ensure different layers of
network equipment on various hardware from different vendors can work together efficiently. Unlike
other systems, client/server systems do not have standard or integrated network management tools
which makes managing the network and communication of the hardware and software components one
of the most complex matters (Thakur, 2015).

The client/server architecture consists of several processes, services, and operating systems
running on multiple computers that might all be different from each other in specifications and
performance. Managers should use proper software tools to maintain an up-to-date version of client
application modules, middleware components, network components, and back-end side processes by
using the network to distribute software updates automatically. Client/server systems are known to
reduce the overall management information system (MIS) costs (J. McGuire, 2000). To benefit from the
cost reduction advantage, managers should be alert when budgeting the start-up cost and continuously
monitor the system budget to determine any cost escalation or hidden costs that weren’t accounted for
at the feasibility study phase (Coronel and Morris, 2015).

The overall operation success of the system depends on the end-user experience and whether
the system can be of good use to the customers or not. This fact is the reason that managers should
involve the end-user in the implementation of the client/server infrastructure. Managing different users
can be a complicated task where some users could utilise a graphical user interface GUI using either
remote procedure calls (RPCs) or standard query language (SQL) (Borquez, 2000) to query the system for
the information they need, while others could still be relying on the MIS department to hand over the
information to them (Özsu and Valduriez, 2011). At this point, training for the end-users seems very
reasonable objective and the education process could be done gradually so the users can find time to
examine what they have learnt (Coronel and Morris, 2015).

Managers are expected to handle the psychological impact of their employees’ changing roles as
a result of implementing client/server systems. As the acquisition of modern software and hardware for
the client/server architecture is expensive, it is also complicated to get the end-users at the level of
knowledge to use the system efficiently (Coronel and Morris, 2015). Therefore, managers should
request periodical feedback on the system activities as some researchers noted that performance
deterioration is more likely to occur in large enterprise client/server environment (Schussel, 2001). Also,
managers are expected to establish a good relationship with multiple vendors. Partnership with various
vendors is essential for the client/server systems to find the best hardware and software solutions at the
start-up phase as well as obtaining continuous support from the original components manufacturers
(Coronel and Morris, 2015).

REFERENCES

Borquez, A. (2000) ‘Client/Server Software Architectures: An Overview’, in Enterprise-Wide Information

Systems. University of Southern California Research Computing Facility (ITP 320). Available at:
http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~anthonyb/itp320/clntsvrov.doc.

Coronel, C. and Morris, S. (2015) ‘Appendix F: Client/Server Systems’, in Database Systems Design,
Implementation, and Management. 11th edn. Cengage Learning, pp. F1–F37.

J. McGuire, T. (2000) ‘Chapter 12: Client/Server Systems’, in Database Management Systems. Huntsville,
TX: Sam Houston State University, Department of Computer Science. Available at:
http://www.shsu.edu/~csc_tjm/summer2000/cs334/Chapter12/Chapter12.html (Accessed: 13 July
2018).

Özsu, M. T. and Valduriez, P. (2011) Principles of Distributed Database Systems. 3rd edn. New York:
Springer Science+Business Media.

Schussel, G. (2001) ‘Client/Server: Past, Present and Future’, Corporate Empowerment & Collaboration,
pp. 1–10. Available at: http://ciains.info/elearning/Solutions/Architecture/ClientServer/CS-
past,presentFurure.pdf.

Thakur, D. (2015) Type of Database System. Available at:

http://ecomputernotes.com/fundamental/what-is-a-database/type-of-database-system (Accessed: 13
July 2018).