Introduction
In a peer-to-peer network, every computer acts as a client and server, and no computer takes on the central role of network management. Every computer has the potential to ask for files or printer access, and every computer has the potential to serve up files and printer access to other computers.
The Plusses
A peer-to-peer network is very inexpensive to set up and requires no special network operating system like Windows NT or Novell NetWare.
The Minuses
A peer-to-peer network has no central management and is less secure than a client-server network. The more computers you have, the more difficult it is to maintain a peer-to-peer network and ensure secure use. Network-wide backups are more difficult to implement.