Remote servers
A remote server can be physically remote, or it can be part of the same operating system under which your local DBMS runs.
When you request services from a remote DBMS, the remote DBMS is a server, and your local system is a requester or client. Conceptually, a server is like a food server who takes food orders, delivers food, and provides other services to customers. The customer is like the requester, or client. The purpose of the server is to provide services to its clients.
A remote server can be truly remote in the physical sense (thousands of miles away), or a remote server can be part of the same operating system under which your local DBMS runs. This information generally assumes that your local DBMS is an instance of Db2 for z/OS. A remote server can be another instance of Db2 for z/OS or an instance of one of many other products.
The following figure shows the client/server environment.