ADDE - Clients and Servers

3.1 ADDE - Clients and Servers

ADDE distributes data using networked servers and clients. Servers store data and distribute it to the client. Clients request and receive data and run applications that use the data. Clients and servers communicate using the TCP/IP communications protocol.

Each account running McIDAS-X acts as both a client and local server. When a client requests data from the local server, it searches for the data in the directories specified in the user's MCPATH environment variable or another directory specified in a REDIRECT entry.

The client can also request data from a remote server. A remote server can be any of the following:

a different account on the same McIDAS-X workstation configured as a remote server
another McIDAS-X workstation configured as a remote workstation

The difference between a local server and a remote server on a McIDAS-X workstation is that the data stored in a local server is available only to the McIDAS-X sessions started under that account name. Data in a remote server is accessible to all McIDAS ADDE clients. Remote servers are discussed more thoroughly in the Site Administration and Management section of the ADDE portion of the Unidata McIDAS User's Guide.