As more corporations move toward client/server computing environment, they may not fully understand what is involved in managing client/ sever systems. When people talk about client/server computing, they inevitably think about distributed computing as if the two were indivisible twins. Is it really true? This paper is intended to serve as a tutorial to review the fundamental characteristics of a client-server system, address some misconceptions, review trends, and discuss some performance management concerns related to client/ server environments.