Here is a conversation with one of my friends who is a very curious kind of person. She is very keen to know about what exactly is 'SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE' ?
A: Hey Ankita, I would like to know about Systems Architecture.What is it ?
Me: Actually System Architecture is nothing but an integrated form of
Data (data base) and Algorithms (application) or in a simpler way we can say that it is a compilation of wires and boxes.Data base and Applications are the two fundamental concepts of Systems architecture.
Let me take you back to the history of its evolution when it started developing.There are some tiers on which it depends.
A: How many tiers are there?
Me: There are
4 tiers of systems architecture:
1. Single Tier Application or architecture
2. Two-Tier Application/Client server architecture
3. Three-Tier Architecture
4. Multi-Tier Architecture
At first comes the
Single-Tier Application in which both the data base and application laid in the same box in an integrated manner. At that time it was used by a whole organization not by an individual. Now-a-days it is more common in personal use.
Then came the
Two-tier Application/Client Server Architecture. In this tier the data/server and applications were made to work separately so that all the data can be shared to all the application. Application can be divided into two types, one is
Core business Logic and other one is the
User interface. Here both were packed in one machine. Hence arose a problem of
Data traffic across the wires and it became a challenge.
So to cope up with it a third level had to be developed and that was the
Three-Tier Architecture. In this form data was there at its place but the application was made to separate into two i.e. Business logic and the User Interface. As data and business logic were now close by, therefore, no challenge of data traffic prevailed.
A: How was the three-tier application helpful ?
Me: It helped in many ways. Firstly, the challenge of data traffic was reduced dramatically. Secondly, in Three-tier, maintenance and up-gradation became easier.
A: Now tell me about the Multi-Tier architecture.
Me: Hmm...now comes the most important level of system architecture i.e. the Multi-Tier application. It is the one which is used presently in world. A number of tiers are present in it; data, business application, web server and web browser.
Browser is called a
Thin Client. Here everything has been standardized. It helps in managing complexity. It allows only certain people to have certain information. e.g. In 2-tier anyone could peep into anybody's data, like sales data, financial data etc. all this could be checked by any of those people working there. Now, this problem has been solved with the coming of the multi-tier application.
On the whole it is a very large and complex distributed system which includes web server, application server (enterprise application. SAP etc.), Data base server (corporate data base) and WAN.
A: What is the biggest challenge in it ?
Me: The biggest challenge is the problem of
security. It is a
secure web based enterprise system but every time it needs to be up-graded with more and more security depending on the nature of invaders. This function is done by
Firewall which solves the problem by helping stop hackers to enter into it by providing various services for the protection.
A: Aah..gathered a lot of knowledge about systems architecture..thanks a lot !!
Me: Hope it will help you some day or the other...
