client-server architecture

A network architecture in which each computer or process on the network is either a client or a server. Servers are powerful computers or processes dedicated to managing disk drives (file servers), printers (print servers), or network traffic (network). Clients are desktop computers (such as Macintoshes, PCs, or workstations) on which people run applications. Clients rely on servers for resources, such as files, devices, and even processing power.