dotnet academic: I am confused how my computer can be a server, client,
database server all at the same time. I am new to Visual

Hi anonymous,

This is a common confusion because people often think of servers as
computers. However, a server is actually software (often running on its own
computer but not necessarily so). In the case of vs .net, the server
software (IIS) is running on your computer. This means that it is listening
to various "ports" for messages. If you are connected to the Internet,
others can actually access your computer's IIS through port 80 (http) for
example. Another port is "local host" which is listening for activity on the
same computer that is hosting IIS.

The MSDE (SQL Server) software is doing the same thing -- it is listening to
various ports for calls to its services. The default installation generally
turns off ports to the outside world for security reasons but it still
listens to the local calls.

So when you are using vs .net, the same computer is running both the IIS
server software and the MSDE server software, both listening on the local
machine for calls to their services.

Hope this helps.

bill burrows

[quoted text, click to view]