Web Server - How it works

What’s a web server? Every interaction you have on the internet, such as browsing content-rich sites, accessing web applications, or even reading this blog, revolves around it.

These interactions are possible through software and hardware working behind the scenes.

Web servers act as the bridge between your website’s files and internet browsers wanting to access them.

What is the difference between a website, web page, search engine, and web server?

To understand the framework behind delivering and accessing web content over the internet, we must understand the difference between web servers, web pages, and search engines.

Website

A website is a collection of web pages typically interconnected by hyperlinks and organized under a single domain name. It serves as an online presence for individuals, organizations, and businesses.

Web page

A web page is a structured HTML document accessible by internet browsers. It includes texts, images, and videos. Different web pages consist of several resources that make up the website.

Search engine

A search engine is a specialized software program that crawls, indexes, and ranks web content from other websites. It collects and organizes web pages, making them easily accessible and searchable for users.

What is a web server?

A web server is a computer that continuously stores, shares, and retrieves content on the internet. Think of performing a Google search for the image of a car; the moment the Google page provides images available for download, the web server has just served you.

The basic principle of the internet is to share and retrieve data. This data exchange requires software to provide accurate internet usage. Web servers are the infrastructure that enables this content distribution across browsers using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Depending on the client’s requests, some contents may be static or dynamic files. However, the infrastructure has different components for effective functioning.

Components of a web server

A web server consists of the following components:

Software
Hardware
Protocols

A web server’s software component uses HTTP to handle users’ requests and responses on a website.

The hardware consists of computers that store website files and documents and the web server’s software; such files include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. The hardware enables internet communication to share these files. Examples of web server hardware include CPU, RAM, GPU, and SSDs.

Protocols facilitate intercommunication between web servers and computers. They include HTTPS, which helps in static content delivery such as images and documents; SMTP, which allows mail delivery; and FTP, which helps in file transfer and storage.

Importance of HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP lacks security and encryption, allowing anyone on the internet who monitors the communication to access any type of information shared.

HTTPS is a secure way of managing the communication between websites and users. When browsing an HTTPS website, all your information is encrypted, and no third party can intercept your data.

Websites built using HTTPS are usually ranked higher in a Google search than websites built without HTTPS.

How does a web server work?

A web server receives, processes, and retrieves requests and sends responses through the following steps. 

Step 1 – Receiving the request: When a web browser queries a web server for information, the server’s first task is to receive the request.

Step 2 – Processing the request: The server translates the website’s domain name into an IP address. The IP address then locates the requested resource, such as an HTML page, image, or script. If a user has visited the website before, the browser will first search through the cached files.

Step 3 – Retrieving the requested resource: Once the request reaches the correct file URL on the web server, the HTTP server will accept it, look through the available files on the server, and locate the needed content.

For a static file, such as an HTML page or an image, the server simply reads it from the file system. The server runs the needed server-side code to make the content.

Step 4 – Sending the response: After locating the requested data, the web server will send an appropriate response and return the data to the client browser through HTTP. If the web server doesn’t find the data, it’ll send an error message to the client browser. Hence, the client’s browser will display the information received.

What are the functions of a web server?

High uptime

A web server’s primary function is to provide a standby hardware infrastructure to store websites and maintain high uptime so that users can access hosted websites and web applications.

Seamless transfer of data

A web server provides an adequate and safe delivery of online content.

Secure servers

Web server hosts can provide robust security protocols and reduce cyber attacks, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL),Secure Sockets Shell (SSH), and reverse proxy.

Various hosting options

Web servers provide different hosting options to accommodate diverse needs and requirements. These options include shared hosting, VPS hosting (virtual private servers), dedicated servers, and cloud hosting, each with features and resources.

Flexibility

Web servers offer high flexibility and support for programming languages, databases, and frameworks. This flexibility allows developers to choose the technologies that best suit their project requirements.

Website performance

Web servers enhance a website’s performance by clearing the storage cache of files that have no use. Caches take up space on a web server and slow down a website. Clearing the cache provides more storage space for other valuable files and documents.

Ranking

Web servers improve website ranking by optimizing page load and server response times. Faster page speeds and server response times contribute to better user experiences, a significant ranking factor for search engines like Google.

While web servers share common functions, different software and configurations cater to specific needs and use cases.

Example of Web Servers

Various web servers with numerous software solutions are available to meet the diverse needs of websites and web applications. The following are common examples.

Apache HTTP server

Apache HTTP Server is an open-source software built for operating systems like Windows, UNIX, and Mac OS. It provides secure and standard web server software for websites.

As a versatile web server software, Apache’s architecture provides a customizable functionality that creates a wide range of features. Among other web servers, Apache has about 20.7 percent of the market. Due to its popularity, it’s the go-to web server for developers, web owners, and hosting service providers.

NGINX

NGINX is another popular web server that manages 23.21 percent of all websites. It‘s widely used for caching, load balancing, media streaming, etc. NGINX offers low memory consumption and a high asynchronous mode of serving web requests.

Internet information services (IIS)

Microsoft developed and maintained the IIS web server. It provides a secure website layer with a low surface area and maximum functionality.

Sun Java system

This multithreaded web server software provides high performance and scalability to websites. It operates multiple single-threaded child processes simultaneously and distributes all incoming requests among the child processes for better performance.

Jigsaw server, implemented on the JAVA programming language, is an open-source web server software with a modular architecture. It uses an object-oriented approach to store files and process requests. Sun Java manages about 0.1 percent of all websites.

Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat is an open-source Java Server Page container and Java servlet used to host and run Java applications and websites. It helps Java apps with dynamic content for multiple requests. It’s an intermediary between the web server and the Java application to ensure efficient and secure data access.

Regardless of the chosen web server software, its architecture is crucial in determining its performance and scalability.