Rune Johansen wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:
>> If you use NT can you tell me how to switch from one mode to
>> another ? That is switch from File Server Mode to Application
>> Server Mode.
> NT is NT; it does not have modes in this sense.  If a server 
> CPU actually runs an application, then we call this an 
> application server.  If a server simply copies files to the 
> workstation so that the application runs on the workstation CPU, 
> we call this a file server.
 RJ> I would hesitate a little with this definition, as all tasks
 RJ> on a NT system is an application. :-))
 RJ> My "definition" of a application server is a machine that
 RJ> runs applications that are processing stuff, besides file
 RJ> and print services, like an Oracle database, a news service,
 RJ> a Exchange service, a SQL database etc. In other words, that
 RJ> runs applications that are to be served to other machines
 RJ> than itself. If you run Word or Excel on the file server
 RJ> interactively, you don't have a application server.
This is confused because Microsoft sells two separate products under two 
separate licenses, one as "NT Workstation" and the other as "NT Server."  At 
bottom, however, there is no internal difference, and the products are 
distinguished by two Registry entries that reflect the license information.  
You cannot run SQL Server on NT Workstation, but this is a license 
enforcement issue, not a technical one.
I appreciate your distinction about using the server in a non-dedicated 
situation, where running applications for the benefit of only the server 
would not be considered to be serving applications to others.  However, I 
wanted to try to emphasize the fundamental issues necessary to understand the 
concepts, not specifically related to NT or any other platform.  In general, 
any task running on the server for the benefit of others on the network would 
be classed as an application service.
 
-- Mike
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