What's Peer-to-Peer ? What is a Peer-to-Peer Network ?

Peer-to-Peer Networks A Peer-to-Peer Network is a network (LAN) which has no server. A server is a dedicated computer which provides disk space and other services to the PCs on the LAN. Because there is no server, all PCs are considered to be equal or "peers" - hence the name. Typically, a peer-to-peer network consists of 2 to 20 PCs running Windows 95. Windows 95 has built-in networking support which makes it easy to create a peer-to-peer network. It is possible to share a printer connected to the parallel port of one PC, but doing so has some drawbacks.

1. The PC with the printer must be ON and functioning normally.
2. The PC with the printer will suffer a performance loss when the printer is being used.
3. The printer normally cannot work at top speed.

Using a Print Server overcomes these problems. The printer or printers are connected to the PrintServer, and each PC prints directly to the PrintServer without the data passing through another PC. To allow this, the software supplied with the Print Server must be installed on each PC.