Me & my friend Prasad meet at night after a long tiring day .
Prasad has small business of Sarees & Men’s Wear and he has been looking after the business
since 5years.
Me : Hey hi Pra…looking very tired & angry?
Prasad : Yes dude .Long hectic day yaar …And at the end of the day
,had an heated argument with the Diwanji over the accounting issues.
Me : What happened ?
Prasad : He always mess up
with the data of purchases & sales .I think we have started facing few
losses just because of that .Anyways ,keep that apart …What about you ? how was
your day ?
Me : It was good ..Went to college and then went to Futala..
Prasad : Hey , you are studying Information system ;right ?
Me: Yess..
Prasad : I have such a small business & I have so much of a
head ache. How does those Big MNC’s operate? They have so many things to handle.
How is it possible?
Me : In MNC’s ,they have well defined systems &there is a
system architecture which handles those systems. For example, you have purchasing as
one of your activity. So that can be done by one specific person. Similarly, in
MNC there are many activities & the data of all the activities are stored
in computer. That data is processed with the help of proper system architecture
to generate relevant information.
Prasad : Can you elaborate on system architecture?
Me :Yup.. Basically a Systems Architecture is the
modelling of the structure &behaviour of the system within an organization. Depending
on the context, Systems Architecture can in fact refer to:
- the architecture of a system, i.e. a model to
describe/analyse a system
- architecting a system, i.e. a method to
build the architecture of a system
- a body of knowledge* for
"architecting" systems while meeting business needs, i.e. a discipline to
master systems design.
Prasad: That sounds a logical way of doing complex things. How many
types of architecture are there?
Me : System architecture can be classified as : Single Tier, Two Tier,
Three Tier & Multi-Tier Architecture.
Prasad : What is the difference between all these type of architecture
& what are their application?
Me: In Single tier architecture, there is a single computer that contains
a database & front end to access a database. Mostly these are used in small
businesses like yours.
A two-tier system consists of
a client and a server. Here the database is stored on the server, and the
interface used to access the database is installed on the client. It places database management on the server and splits the
processing management between client and server, creating two layers. However
with the increase in the number of clients, performance of the system begins to
deteriorate.
The third tier is between the client and
the server. The middle tier provides process management where business logic
and rules are executed and can accommodate hundreds of users by providing
functions such as queuing, application execution, and database staging.
In Multitier system, the web browser replaces the client software on the user
machine, which is not in a position to communicate with the application server
directly. It needs an intermediate server to communicate effectively. Hence, a
web server is used.
Prasad : That’s sound great …But I have heard that many hackers hack
these systems & stole the valuable information which can even lead to huge
financial loss for the company ..What about that?
Me : Yes ,your query is genuine but don’t worry .We have a firewall
system for such thing.
Prasad: What is a firewall?
Me: A firewall can either be software-based or hardware-based
and is used to help keep a network secure. Its primary objective is to control
the incoming and outgoing network traffic by analysing the data packets and
determining whether it should be allowed through or not, based on a
predetermined rule set.
Prasad : That was such a wonderful conversation. Thank you for sharing
your knowledge. I will also look forward to buy a computer & do my accounts
on it .
Me : Very good idea. I am always there if you need any help. Bye.
