Wish we could draw pictures in our posts. Oh well...

Ok, I have a server. I also have 3 thin-client boxes connected to the server via the network.

On the Server

.....MyApp (and supporting data)
.....MyExternalProgram
.....MyService

On the thin-clients

.....Not much, but they run MyApp over the network.

Part of functionality of MyApp is to send information, via ports, to be picked-up by MyExternalProgram.

The MyService listens for information sent from MyExternalProgram, then updates MyApp.

Couple questions:

.....How to handle the fact that information needs to be sent, via ports (and in directories
.....as a backup), from multiple clients running MyApp on the server?

.....Should the service be running on the clients instead of the server? Why or why not?

.....How do I handle communicating via ports between the multiple clients and the server? Can
.....I point to ports on the server from the clients and visa versa? How?

UPDATE: How is information coming from multiple places to a single port get handled? Wait in a queue?

Any other thoughts or considerations?

Thanks!