Application: Implementing Threading in a Client-Server Protocol

Server programs are rarely implemented as non-threaded applications, even though that is how you implemented your previous server application. Servers would not be able to provide the necessary throughput unless they used threading to allow for I/O to occur concurrently with servicing client requests.

For this Assignment, you will modify your finger server program from Week 6 to use threads. The server should activate a new thread to process each incoming client request, thus allowing client requests to be processed concurrently.

To prepare:
Start up NetBeans.
Open your implementation of the finger protocol from Week 6.

Modify your finger server program to use threads. The server should activate a new thread to process each incoming client request, thus allowing client requests to be processed concurrently.

In addition, write a 5- to 7-page paper documenting the changes that you made and analyzing the impact the changes will have on the overall throughput and latency of the server.

Include in your paper responses to these questions:

What other solutions might you consider in order to increase throughput and reduce latency?

Which solution do you consider to have the better trade-off between performance and complexity?

Which solution do you consider to have the better application of modularity, abstraction, hierarchy, and layering?