When several computers are interconnected, but no computer occupies a privileged position, the network is usually referred to as a peer-to-peer network. In this type of network, every computer can communicate with all the other machines on the network, but in general each one stores its own files and runs its own applications.

Let's discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this networking architecture.

Peer-to-Peer Network Advantages

Following are the major advantages of Peer-to-Peer networks:

(i) Peer-to-Peer Networks are easy and simple to set up and only require a Hub or a Switch to connect all the computers together.

(ii) It is very simple and cost effective.

(iii) If one computer fails to work, all other computers connected to it continue to work.

Disadvantages

The major disadvantages of peer-to-peer networks are as below:

(i) There can be a problem in accessing files if computers are not connected properly.

(ii) It does not support connections with too many computers as the performance gets degraded in case of high network size.

(iii) The data security is very poor in this architecture.