Chapter 36: Client/Server Concepts
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FIGURE 36.3A contacts application entry screen (an Access form)
The back office
You might have heard the term back office used to refer to the computers that store a company’s
data. The back-office portion of a client/server system is normally unseen by the users of client
computers. More than one server computer can be involved in a single application. Server comput-
ers can be running databases, such as SQL Server or Oracle. Server computers can be used to
transfer data between database servers and client applications. These intermediary computers may
be Web servers, application servers, or file servers.Big companies spend a lot of money and human resources on their back-office computer systems.
Not only is the hardware considerably more expensive than desktop computers, but professional
administrators are needed to keep the machines up and running with a minimum of problems.
Also, because the data stored in database servers is usually mission-critical to the company’s opera-
tion, high levels of security must be applied to the server hardware and software to protect the
integrity of the data.The database
A database is used primarily to store data. In general, larger and more scalable database engines
like SQL Server provide features well beyond the capabilities of Microsoft Access. Depending on
installation and configuration details, SQL Server databases easily exceed terabytes in size and can
service hundreds or thousands of simultaneous users.One particular difference between a server database engine like SQL Server and Access is with
respect to specialized database objects supported by server database engines. These specialized