What is N-Tier?

N-Tier applications are useful, in that they are able to readily implement Distributed Application Design and architecture concepts. These types of applications also provide strategic benefits to solutions at the enterprise level. It is true that two tier, client server applications may seem deceptively simple from the outset – they are easy to implement and easy to use for Rapid Prototyping. At the same time, these applications can be quite a pain to maintain and secure over time.

N-Tier applications, on the other hand, are advantageous, particularly in the business environment, for a number of reasons.

N-Tier applications typically come loaded with the following components:

• Security. N-Tier applications come with logging mechanisms, monitoring devices, as well as Appropriate Authentication, ensuring that the device and system is always secure.
  .
• Availability + Scalability. N-Tier applications tend to be more reliable. They come loaded with fail over mechanisms like fail over clusters to ensure redundancy.
  .
• Manageability. N-Tier applications are designed with the following capabilities in mind: deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting. N-Tier devices ensure that one has the sufficient tools at one’s disposal in order to handle any errors that may occur, log those errors, and provide guidance towards correcting those errors.
  .
• Maintenance. Maintenance in N-Tier applications is easy, as the applications adopt coding and deployment standards, as well as data abstraction, modular application design, and frameworks that enable reliable maintenance strategies.
  .
• Data abstraction. N-Tier applications make it so that one can easily adjust the functionality without altering other applications.

Now that we understand the benefits of using an N-Tier application, let us explore the ways that one might go about building such an application.

First off, in order to build a successful N-Tier application, one must first have thorough knowledge of the business in question as well as the domain being used. One must also have sufficient technical and design expertise. In order to successfully distribute an application’s functionality throughout, appropriate “tiers” must be assigned.

As useful as they are, there are also situations when an N-Tier application might not be the most ideal solution for one’s business needs. Most of all, one should keep in mind that building an N-Tier application involves a lot of time, experience, skill, commitment, and maturity – not to mention the high cost. If one is insufficiently prepared in any of these areas, then building an N-Tier application might not be appropriate for you at this moment. Above all, building a successful N-Tier application necessitates a favorable cost benefit ratio from the outset.

First off, you should fully understand what an N-Tier application is, what it does, and how it functions. To put it the simplest terms possible, N-Tier applications help one distribute a system’s overall functionality in to a multitude of layers or “tiers.”

In a usual implementation, for example, you will most likely have at least some of the following layers, if not all: Presentation, Business Rules, Data Access, and Database. In some instances, it could be possible to split one or more of these different layers in to many different sub layers. It is possible to develop each of these layers separately from the others, as long as it can communicate with the other layers and adhere to the standards that have been set out in the specifications.

With an N-Tier application, it is possible for each layer to treat the other layers in a “black box” fashion. That means that the layers do not care how the other layers process information, as long as the data is sent between layers in the correct format.

Next Page: N-Tier and Distributed Computing