client-server
termnetworkingprogramming
An architecture where requesting clients talk to a designated server that holds the resource and answers.
The asymmetry is the whole design: the server is always listening, is addressable and administered, and the client initiates. That centralization is what makes access control, backup, and auditing tractable, and it is why nearly every enterprise protocol, HTTP, LDAP, SMTP, SQL, works this way. The cost is that the server is both the bottleneck and the target.
Also known as: client/server, client server model