Client server systems are systems that function as a collective.
They use their network connections (usually LAN) to share
data and in some cases to distribute processing requirements
over the network. In such environments the server usually
acts as a central store for data and a place from which to control clients. Client
systems are usually data collection points such as user terminals, ATMs,
POS terminals and so on. Some examples of client server systems
are:
Point of Service systems
banking applications with client tellers and the central bank database as server
insurance applications with client sales persons and central price databases as servers
call center systems with agents as clients and dialing and central database systems as servers
help center systems with technical support stations as clients and centrally held
information stored on servers
The Embedded Configuration Toolkit provides a mechanism to enable you
to customize and generate a UNIX operating system that
includes network and other specialized drivers tailored to both
the system hardware and the requirements of the client
application. Once the operating system (with its associated drivers)
has been generated, you can use the toolkit to
bundle your application and operating system into images that
can then be loaded onto the system hardware. Because
the requirements of a client and server system are
so different, the generation procedures have been summarized separately
in the sections below.