a. Classify the two alternatives in terms of what type of application architecture they use.
• The first alternative would use client-based architecture; the client side has the presentation logic, application logic and data access logic and the DRUB server acts as data storage.
• The second alternative would use two-tier client-server architecture: The presentation logic and application logic on the client and the data access logic and data storage on the server. In this case, the client software accepts user requests and performs the application logic that produces database requests that are transmitted to the server. The server software accepts the database requests, performs the data access logic, and transmits the results to the client. The client software accepts the results and presents them to the user. The client will use the web browser to talk to the web server using a standard called HTTP

b. Outline the pros and cons of the two alternatives and make a recommendation to Fred about which is better.
Pros:
Inexpensive to implement, as microcomputers are considerably cheaper versus mainframe. Hardware of different manufactures or platforms can function together on the same network.
Cons:
Limited growth potential. Data traffic must be sent and received between client and host. Due to the amount of information that must be sent between client and host, this can put a significant performance hit against the network, affecting all machines.
2. Two-tier Client-Server architecture:
The cost of infrastructure is low as they place less of a load on networks and thus require less network capacity. Increased performance
Cons: