What is the difference between a server network and a P2P network?

What is the difference between a server network and a P2P network?What is the difference between a server network and a P2P network?
Lets say this is about illegal downloads (lets face it, P2P is usually about illegal downloads)



If you use my server network, then the illegal file gets uploaded to my server and people go to my server to download it.



If you use my P2P server, then my server only keeps track of who has the illegal downloads. People come to my server to get the information to connect and download it directly from other users. The illegal software is never on the server. Supposedly (for now) considered a "safer" way of doing it and not get caught. But of course the programs you are getting are off of anyones computer so they arent very safeWhat is the difference between a server network and a P2P network?
A server network has a central machine or at least a group of central machines that run the network. These central machines are contacted by any machine that wants to participate in the network, and the central machines provide any services to the network such as file sharing or communication. If the central machines aren't running, the network is down.



A P2P (Peer to Peer) network has every machine in the network as equal to all others - there's no central machine running things. Any machine could share files, or provide a communications link, or any other network service. The advantage is that such a network still runs as long as any machines involved with the network are still running, it's extremely resilient. The disadvantage is that it tends to be horribly inefficient compared to a server network, since so many network services are run by every machine on the network instead of by centralized high-performance machines.What is the difference between a server network and a P2P network?
Client server model tends to have certain computers offer services (server) and client computers using these servers for various tasks.



In a P2P model any computer can act as a server or client at any given time.
http://freepctech.com/pc/002/networks007鈥?/a>