Understanding Web Server and How It Works

Nafa Lightyani

Understanding Web Server and How It Works

Rancakmedia.com – Review of meaning of web server and how it works that you need to know. For this reason, read the article that we provide below to get complete information.

We can access websites because of the server. This server is called a web server. However, many people don't have the technology to understand what these technical phrases mean.

People are becoming more aware of the importance of technology as a result of the rapid advances in technology that have occurred in the last few decades. Web server technology is one of the things you should be familiar with.

Everyone is used to using a browser when visiting the internet. So what is the relationship between the web server and the browser? In short, the browser you usually use functions as a client. The web server will get lots of requests from browsers. That's one connection.

What is a Web Server

What does it mean by web server? The HTTP/HTTPS protocol is used by web servers to receive requests from clients or browsers in the form of web pages, which are then answered by the server in the form of HTML or PHP documents in the form of web pages.

From this it can be concluded that a web server is software that provides services to web clients (browsers) such as Chrome, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, etc. so that the browser can display the requested web.

In this situation, internet users who use browsers to access the internet operate as web clients who submit requests to the web server.

Understanding Web Server According to Experts

The following expert perspectives can help us better understand what a web server really means:

1. Solochin

The definition of a web server according to Solichin is that a user or client sends requests and requests in the form of a web page via HTTP or HTTPS to a web server, which then returns an HTML document in the form of a web page.

2. Khairil

According to Khairil, the definition of a web server is a program or software that is the backbone of a world wide web (www) site.

It is stated that after the request is processed, the web server will wait for the request from the client using the browser before displaying the processing results back in the browser.

3. Nugroho

According to Nugroho, the definition of a web server is a kind of server that is specifically intended to store web pages or home pages.

A computer can be declared a web server if the machine has a server application called PWS (Personal Web Service). This PWS will then work so that web pages on the server computer can be called from the client PC.

History of Web Servers

Many people don't realize that the first web servers were created on the European continent for the purpose of building nuclear weapons rather than for hosting websites or serving them.

We already know that the internet evolved decades ago, but servers only made their debut in 1990. The first web server was created during a nuclear experiment called CERN.

This technology was developed on a server called NeXT, from a concept proposed by CERN. NeXT is a company created by Apple founder Steve Jobs. Starting from the technology mentioned above, now comes the world wide web.

The purpose of a web server is to interface between a server and a browser, but its use is further extended as a data storage space and as a device to run various applications for commercial reasons.

From the information above, you can conclude that a server is software or hardware that functions as a data provider to web clients (browsers) such as Chrome, Mozilla, Safari, and Opera so that the browser can display certain websites.

Web Server Functions

The web server's job is to send request files via predefined HTTP or HTTPS protocols. Did you know that websites include a wide variety of data, such as: .txt text files, .mp4 movies, .jpg photos, files, and more? This data is transferred from the web server to the client, which is viewed by web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox.

The role of a web server is to receive HTTP or HTTPS requests from clients, such as the web browsers we are most familiar with (Chrome, Firefox). The web server will also return a response to the request to the client in the form of a web page, which is usually HTML.

Until now, the web server's role is to process all data requests by clients using web browsers. Then send feedback in the form of responses in the form of files such as papers, videos, images, or various other types of data.

If you summarize the functions of a web browser, they are as follows:

  1. Removes unnecessary files from the browser cache, such as images and other media.
  2. Checking HTTP requests depends on the client's request whether the website is secure or not.
  3. To maintain system security, this module provides information collected from logged-in user requests.

How Does a Web Server Work

Do you know how a web server works? Basically, the web server is responsible for receiving requests from clients and then providing them back in the form of files.

Server computer software acts as a data storage facility for websites. The server computer must also have internet connectivity so that it can be accessed by customers at any time.

When a client or browser like Safari requests data from a web server, the request is encapsulated in TCP and sent to the appropriate address via HTTP or HTTPS to be displayed in the browser.

However, the web server will reject the request if the required data cannot be found. That's why we often get Page Not Found or Error 404 when accessing information or websites on the internet.

Types of Web Servers

As a programmer, you also need to know the types and examples of web servers that are often used. The following are various types of web servers as follows.

1. Apache

The web server that is popular and most frequently used by most users is the Apache type. Originally, Apache was intended to fully support the UNIX operating system.

Apart from being quite easy to build, Apache also contains various supporting programs so that it provides comprehensive services, such as PHP, SSI, and access control. Here are the details:

  1. PHP (Personal Home Page or PHP Hypertext Processor)
  2. Processing text from the server, the appearance resembles CGI. Apache really supports PHP by installing it as one of its modules (php mod). This improves PHP performance.
  3. SSI stands for “Server Side Include”.
  4. Commands that can be found in legacy HTML can then be handled by the web server when the user views them.
  5. CGI (Common Gateway Interface) access control can be done based on the host name or IP number
  6. Most popular is Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language), which is supported by Apache as a module (perl mod).

Apache is quite safe and fun to use because it has various advantages, such as a simple installation procedure, freeware, and a very easy configuration system. Apart from that, Apache can also function on operating systems open source or closed source.

2. Nginx

Nginx is a more capable alternative to Apache compared to the standard web server. Nginx is renowned for its ability to handle a wide variety of requests, even those with very high traffic density. Nginx is better in terms of quality, speed and performance.

Nginx provides several benefits in terms of functionality, such as URL rewriting, virtual hosts, file serving, reverse proxying, access control, and more.

3. IIS

The IIS (Internet Information Services) web server is a web server that operates on various protocols such as DNS, TCP/IP, or various other software that is useful for building a site.

4. Lighttpd

German programmers have designed an open-source web server to support Linux and Unix computers. In terms of benefits, the extra capabilities that can be accessed on this web server provide various advantages. such as FastCGi, Output-Compression, FastCGi, and URL Writing. The Lighttpd web server provides a more responsive and efficient service.

Advantages of Web Servers

Web servers not only work according to their role but are also able to increase customer happiness and comfort. This is proven by several advantages provided, including:

1. Interaction

Web servers always provide the option to communicate with the hosting provider, for example if users want to learn the internal workings of a web server, they can do so here.

2. Configuration

Web server log files are very easy to use. Logs are user configurable upon request from the user. Operating systems and website traffic can be studied this way.

3. Flexibility

Compared to cluster hosting, web server hosting is much more adaptable, especially when using dedicated servers.

4. Download Capability

A web server may be the perfect solution for you to use as a website owner that offers download links. Websites that use web servers don't have to worry about bandwidth limits. Additionally, visitors will be able to more easily monitor the speed and efficiency of the website.

5. Sharing Resources

Because web servers are not shared hosts, when they get new requests, they will not share resources such as hard drives, bandwidth, or processors with anyone else.

FAQ

Below is an example of a question and answer sentence regarding web servers, as follows:

1. Does Google Chrome include a Web Server?

Yes, Google Chrome is a web server, apart from that there are also Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, and so on, which are famous for supplying data to web clients or browsers.

2. How does the web server communicate with the client?

HTTP is a protocol used by web servers to interact with clients (web browsers) (hypertext transfer protocol). With this protocol, communication between the web server and its clients is mutually understandable and easy. The data format on the world wide web is SGML.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that a Web server is software that provides services to web clients. The HTTP/HTTPS protocol is used by web servers to receive requests from clients or browsers.

Web servers can also be expanded as data storage space and devices to run various applications for commercial reasons. Development The server is responsible for receiving requests from clients and providing them back in the form of files.

That's the article about the meaning of a web server and how it works, hopefully the article above can be helpful and useful for all of you.

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Nafa Lightyani

I am a content writer for SEO, Technology, Finance, Travel, Cooking Recipes and others. I hope this can be useful for all my friends.