Above all, the goal of a network is to share resources in one location on the network and to use them from another location on the network. On a network, computers can be organized in one of two ways:
Windows NT allows you to configure your network using either or both of these models. Windows NT Workstation can use the peer-to-peer model with as many as ten users simultaneously connected to each workstation.
In the Windows NT architecture, two software components—called the server and the redirector—provide server and workstation functionality. Both of these components reside above the TDI and are implemented as file system drivers.
Being implemented as file system drivers has several benefits. Applications can call a single API (namely, Windows NT I/O functions) to access files on local and remote computers. From the I/O Manager's perspective, there is no difference between accessing files stored on a remote networked computer and accessing those stored locally on a hard disk. The redirector and server can directly call other drivers and other kernel-mode components such as the Cache Manager, thus optimizing performance. Each can be loaded and unloaded dynamically. In addition, the Windows NT redirector can coexist with other redirectors (discussed more fully in the section called "Interoperating with Other Networks," later in this chapter).