How Do Web Servers Work?

In June of this year it was estimated that there were just fewer than 2.5 billion

internet users in the whole world meaning that there will be millions of users online at any given time. The internet is a global phenomenon and has helped to connect people that are thousands of miles apart but many people do not even consider how the webpage they are looking at got to their computer. How are websites made viewable to almost anyone with an internet connection? The basic answer comes down to web servers. Web servers work behind the scenes of the internet in order to serve up the websites people are trying to view. But how do web servers work?

When a website has been designed, developed and built it will need to be stored somewhere, it will need web hosting in order to make it accessible to the general public. The files that make up the website will be stored on a web server; this server will either be one that is owned by the company who runs the website or a server that is rented out by a business hosting company. Servers are so named because they serve up resources required by a user. Server machines will usually have a number of different functions. For example a server machine may have the software installed that will allow it to act as a web-server, an email server or an FTP server (where FTP is file transfer protocol) amongst others depending on what the user requires.

In many cases a user will enter a URL in order to access a website, for example, if you wanted to go to Google you would type in the URL in the address bar of your browser. By doing this you are effectively giving your browser instructions about what you want to view. Every machine has a unique IP address (a long string of numbers and dots) that allows it to be recognised and found. The server that the website you are trying to access is stored on will have a specific IP address. However, humans find it easier to remember and input names rather than long numbers, so instead of inputting the IP address of the server we type the domain name in.

Your browser will take the domain name information that you input and will pass it on to a domain name server. This server will be able to translate the domain name into an IP address. Once your browser has an IP address, it can contact the relevant server. The basic conversation that your browser has with a server has several main steps. The user requests a document (i.e. a specific webpage), the appropriate server is contacted and it looks for the relevant document in the file system, once it has found the document it retrieves it from the system and sends it to the users web browser.

In terms of hosting, the machines that are involved are generally one of two types. There is the machine that is doing the requesting (i.e. a users computer) which is called the client and the machine that is providing the services a server. In order to ensure that the different services available on a server machine do not get confused, the services are made available on different ports. A client will connect to a specific port for a specific service. There are a number of standard ports that are usually used for specific services port 80 is generally designated for a web server while an FTP server is often found on port 21.

As there are many different brands and types of computers and servers, there needs to be a standardised way that these machines can communicate. This is where the http part of a website address comes in. HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and is basically a standard language that servers and browsers can use to communicate with each other. Through using HTTP, browsers can communicate with servers and can receive the html text of the required website. The browser will then translate html and format the webpage so it appears how the author intended it.

Though the process can obviously become much more complex, such as through added security measures or through the use of dynamic scripts, the general way that servers work is fairly straightforward to understand. The user types in the address of the website they want to view into their browser. The browser sends that information via http to a domain name server that finds the associated IP address. Contact is made with the relevant web server, again via http, through the relevant port. The server then finds the specific information that has been requested and sends it back to the client. The browser then translates the html and shows the website. Communication between clients and servers is a fascinating process that in many cases can only take a few seconds (depending on internet speed).

by: Izzy Evans

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