subject: What Is A Web Server? [print this page] What Is A Web Server? What Is A Web Server?
All web sites on the internet reside on computers called servers, the web site you are looking at right now to read this article is located on a server somewhere on the internet.
While any computer, even the one you are using right now, can be setup to operate as a server to show web pages on the internet, most web sites are held on servers that sit in specialist data centers, these facilities are usually purpose built and keep the servers running in an optimum environment to maximize reliability, uptime and longevity of the hardware.
Thinking about how a server works can be confusing, but the basic principles are very straightforward. Every server is connected to the internet in just the same way your own computer is connected to the internet, the obvious difference being that servers are connected with much more bandwidth than your home internet connection.
When you sit at your computer and request a web page, your request gets sent to a special hub (called a DNS server) that turns the domain you entered into a special sequence of numbers called and IP address, this IP address pinpoints the exact server where the web page you are looking for is held, and then sends your request along to that server.
When the server reviews the request for the web page, it uses its software to find the web page you requested on its hard disks, then when it finds it, it sends that web page back to you in a format your web browser can understand, and then your web browser shows you the web page.
The internet itself is nothing more then millions of these servers all connected together via the DNS hubs, there is no mysterious cloud, just a lot of servers each connected to each other, and in turn people from their homes and offices simply get their web pages shown to them from the relevant server that hosts the web site they are looking at.
