Groove and peer-to-peer versus traditional client/server information sharing

Groove began as a peer-to-peer application for individual collaboration. Although many companies now use Groove servers to enhance Groove management capabilities and to extend connectivity, Groove still uses p2p communications when possible, and as a collaboration tool, retains the basic structure of a p2p application.

However once in a while this question comes up: “I’ve lost my Groove workspace; can Microsoft send me a copy?” If you are in this position, and assuming you are using Groove as a stand-alone product, then the answer would be no, as it is not “stored” or “backed up” at Microsoft.

 Groove is a collaboration system that allows individuals to securely share information and work together on project activities using peer-to-peer replication or replication forwarded by a relay server. Even when a server forwards Groove data, it does not store any of it, and cannot decrypt it. Therefore, unlike in traditional client/server applications where is normally stored in a central location, the workspace was only stored locally, only on the computers of workspace members, and Microsoft has no copy or record of it so what is peer-to-peer and how is it different from a standard client server?

There are both technological differences as well as differences on how the client/server and peer-to-peer applications are used:

· Peer-to-peer applications such as Groove are particularly useful for empowering decentralized and remote work groups, because they do not rely on a constant connection to a server.

· Peer-to-peer systems have built-in redundancy.

     Peer-to-peer applications tolerate, and even encourage, flexibility and autonomy.

· Client/server systems are susceptible to outages and interruptions of productivity because the failure of a server also causes failure of all the dependent clients.

· Client/server systems primarily use the resources of the server for both storage and processing.

· Client/server applications tend to be associated with programs that apply rules to recurrent problems.

· Client/server systems usually limit client flexibility and autonomy.

Below are some related links:

 How to back up accounts and workspaces in Groove -- https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;907230

       Saving a Groove account as a backup copy -- https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA102144181033.aspx