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I am currently writing a paper about client and server authentication. I am looking for a word that means client AND server. Anyone have any suggestions?

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5 Answers

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Host or Node

Need more letters for 15 char

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Not vaild if you have client and server on same, ehm, host: e.g. mysql, which is frequently accessed by php with libmysqlclient. – whitequark Jun 7 '10 at 23:45
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@whitequark - Thanks for the downvote, but you're wrong. A host is any computer on a network. It's basic terminology, look it up if you don't believe me. – MDMarra Jun 7 '10 at 23:47
+1 for node. Re whitequark's "downvote" -- just because he commented negatively does not mean he downvoted. It's perfectly possible he commented negatively, and someone else agreed and downvoted. (It's happened several times to me over on stackoverflow, because I have a policy when flagging incorrect answers: comment, then [unless I get busy doing something else] downvote 10 minutes later if they haven't deleted or fixed it). In fact, there's a guy over on SO who thinks I downvote him regularly. He's right when he doesn't fix things, but mostly, I don't -- because he fixes or deletes. – T.J. Crowder Jun 8 '10 at 0:44
@whitequark: "Node" is a perfectly correct term for what the OP asked for. A node can be simultaneously a client and server for the same service; it's still a node. – T.J. Crowder Jun 8 '10 at 0:47
@T.J. - Normally I would agree with you and I don't call out downvoters, but this question had two views when the downvote happened, and we were the only two to answer. I didn't downvote myself ;) – MDMarra Jun 8 '10 at 0:54
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up vote 5 down vote

"Peer" can be used when you're talking about a protocol where all participants (oh hey, "participants") perform both the client and server role. Otherwise, go with the other answers.

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i'm pretty sure peer is valid regardless of which role was being performed by a host. in a more generic (and older) sense, TCP/IP is a peer-to-peer technology. – quack quixote Jun 7 '10 at 23:53
+1, peer is fine, although generally I think node is a better fit. – T.J. Crowder Jun 8 '10 at 0:48
@Crowder: "node" is valid for non-point-to-point communication (like multicast), and "peer", AFAIK, is not. – whitequark Jun 8 '10 at 1:04
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up vote 2 down vote

(Communication) endpoint maybe?

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up vote 1 down vote

Device or Machine

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up vote 0 down vote

Do you mean the client and server as one unit ("session" maybe or "connection") or as members of a larger group (probably "host" or "device" like @Mike and @Mark said)?

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