Originally Posted by
Ajax
A server is just a computer, simplistically modified to have more I/o ports and more data storage with a more dynamic method of reading and writing data.
On a peer to peer network, any computer can act as a server, it just wont be as efficient on sending and receiving data. As with a server it needs to be on all the time and ideally not used for any other purpose except perhaps as a print server. Any db should be split front and backend and each user should have their own copy of the front end on their machine.
If one of the users is also 'host' to the back end, you may have some additional complexity with linking to the back end - all the other users will be linking via a mapped drive - so the host will also need to create a mapped drive to his own machine, otherwise his/her front end will have a different linking configuration to everyone else
For purposes of efficiency, map the folder in which the backend resides (ideally a folder to host just the back end) rather than the whole disk to keep the path as short as possible.