client/server database?

Hi! i was asked to make a simple client/server database application.. It only involves an ACCESS database...
My question is what is really a client/server database application?
1. is a client/application like this: the client application runs on a particular mahcine on a network and then the DATABASE is on a seperate remote machine? and if thats enought i'll just make a client application, and make SQL statements directly and then connect directly to a remote database using JDBC drivers?
OR
2. a client application runs on a particular machine on a network and the client application will just connect to a server application on the remote machine.. and that server application will be the one to connect to the DATABASE residing also on the same remote machine.. if this is so, i have to do this using Sockets.. and if i do this, how do i transfer RowSets and other database objects accross the network since RowSets are not SERIALIZABLE?
any thoughts on this?

#1 is classic Client Server with the client connecting to a database server.
#2 is often called n-tier where n is anything over 2.
Regular desktop Access is not suited to #1 as it's not really a database server. Can you use SQL Server or Oracle or something for your database?

what if i do #2? how do i transfer data objects across the network? i cannot directly transfer RowSet objects, since they are not serializable,ryt?
do i have to encapsulate data on other java classes i.e. Vector?

i can use a different database, but this is just for a project in school...