Does the DBMS need to reside on the same CPU as the Web server?
No. Thanks to client/server database systems, CGI database client applications can reside on the Web server, whereas the database server being accessed can be located virtually anywhere, as long as network access between the database client and server programs exists. Additionally, many databases, such as Microsoft’s Access desktop database system, provide the capability to link to external databases and data sources through ODBC. A Web server residing on a Windows 95 PC, for example, could use cgi-bin, cgi-win, or database gateway programs to access the Access database. The database, in turn, could be configured with links to an external database. This, in effect, provides another method for a Web server to access remote databases.