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TYPICAL NON-NETWORK SETUP
------------- ------------ ------------- ------------
| |.....| Terminal A | | |.....| Terminal D |
| | ------------ | | ------------
| Mainframe | ------------ | Mainframe | ------------
| Computer |.....| Terminal B | | Computer |.....| Terminal E |
| I | ------------ | II | ------------
| | ------------ | | ------------
| |.....| Terminal C | | |.....| Terminal F |
------------- ------------ ------------- ------------
: : : :
------- ------- ------- -------
| Disk | | Disk | | Disk | | Disk |
| Drive | | Drive | | Drive | | Drive |
| 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 |
------- ------- ------- -------
In a non-network environment, users have to copy files back and forth between
machines. This results in multiple copies of files with incompatible changes
made to separate copies. There is a great variation in response time
as well as fragmented data. It also may not be very cost-effective.
TYPICAL SHARED NETWORK ENVIRONMENT USING NFS
--------------- --------------- ---------------
| Workstation B | | Workstation C | | Workstation D |
--------------- --------------- ---------------
: : :
----------------------------------Ethernet-------------------------------------
: : :
--------------- ---------------- ------------
| Workstation A | | Server | | |
--------------- ---------------- | Peripheral |
: : : | Printer |
------- ------- ------- | |
| Disk | | Disk | | Disk | ------------
| Drive | | Drive | | Drive |
| 1 | | 2 | | 3 |
------- ------- -------
In a networked environment, workstations have access to all information on
any disk in the network. This provides more computing power, less
variation in response time, and is, therefore, more cost-effective.