Three-tier
architecture
A client-server architecture in which the user interface, functional process logic (“business rules”) and data storage and access are developed and maintained as independent modules, most often on separate platforms.
Apart from the usual advantages of modular software with well defined interfaces, the three-tier architecture is intended to allow any of the three tiers to be upgraded or replaced independently as requirements or technology change. For example, an upgrade of desktop operating system from Microsoft Windows to Unix would only affect the user interface code.
Typically, the user interface runs on a desktop PC or workstation and uses a standard graphical user interface, functional process logic may consist of one or more separate modules running on a workstation or application server, and an RDBMS on a database server or mainframe contains the data storage logic. The middle tier may be multi-tiered itself (in which case the overall architecture is called an “n-tier architecture”).
(1998-05-13)
Read Also:
- Three-time loser
three sheets to the wind
- Three-toed sloth
[three-tohd] /ˈθriˌtoʊd/ noun 1. a small sloth of the genus Bradypus, having three claws on each limb and very long forelimbs.
- Three-toed woodpecker
noun 1. either of two woodpeckers of the genus Picoides, of the Northern Hemisphere, having only three toes on each foot. 2. any of various similar, tropical, Old World woodpeckers.
- Three-valued
[three-val-yood] /ˈθriˈvæl yud/ adjective, Logic. 1. of or relating to propositions having a value other than truth or falsity.
- Three-wattled bellbird
[three-wot-ld] /ˈθriˌwɒt ld/ noun 1. See under bellbird. noun 1. any of several birds having a loud bell-like cry, especially Anthornis melanura, a honey eater of New Zealand, and Procnias tricarunculata (three-wattled bellbird) of Central America. noun 1. any of several tropical American passerine birds of the genus Procnias having a bell-like call: family Cotingidae […]