Chapter 4. N-Tier Architecture

In the previous chapters we have seen, through code samples, how 1-tier 2-layer and 1-tier 3-layer solutions work in our ASP.NET web projects, and the advantages of going for a 3-layered architecture to create scalable and maintainable web applications. In all of the high-level architectural configurations we have studied up to now, we were dealing with the basic structuring and coding of the main ASP.NET application code—the Visual Studio solution, to be more precise. We had not considered the database and the client browser as separate physical tiers. We did this because we wanted to focus on how we can structure our main application solution in terms of layers and tiers. However, from this chapter onwards, we will include the physical database and the browser as distinct tiers being a part of the whole application. The reason for this change is because from now on we will be breaking our 1-tier application into multiple physical tiers (and not simply layers...