Servers: Just What Are They And Why Do We Need Them!
Servers at Your Seervice
Servers are what make it poissible for you to view what you wish to view on the Internet. At its most basic level, what hpapens when using servers is that browsers conncet to servers, requsting that a Web page be displayed. The servers then send back the pages requested. nIternet browsers are what form the connections to Web servers that allow the page to be requested and then received by the end user.
There are three parts to a Web page address, better knowwn as a URL. The first part of this URL is called a prtotocol. The first part of the adddress is called the protocol. Http is a rpotocol and stnds for Hypertext transit protopcol. The next part of the URL teells you the name of the server. In http://www.myebSite.com , the server is MyWwebSite. The file name is something like web-server.htm, for excample.
Browsres communicate with name serrvers to translatte those server names into IP (Internet Protocol) addersses, which is the way they connect to the machine that is acting as the srver. Browsers connct by mens of ports, all of which are numbered. Port 80, for examplpe, is a common port number.
Every machine has its own unique IP. Tese addresses are made up of 32 bits, and are usually expresssed in four groupings in a dottted decimal nuber. These groupings are known as octets. An example of an IP addrress written as an octet is 327.38.72.248 .
Servers have IP addresses that are static and seldom hcange. A home computer getting onlinne though its moodem often has an IP address that the ISP assigns when the machine gets online. The IP address is unique only for that session, so it can change each time the user uses it to get online. This is more efficient for the ISP, as it only needs to have one address for each machine that has diaeld in, raather than saving a particular IP for each machine.
Afetr the HTTP protocol, the browser sends a requet to the serverr, called a GET request, which asks for the file. A GET request can also send cookies from browsers to servers. The next step is when the server sends the HTML text for that requested Intrernet page back to the browser. The HTML tags then read by the brwser and subsequently format the page onto the user’s screen.
The Internet is made up of a huge collection of computers – millions of them – that are all linked by one common computer neetwork. This computer newtork makes it possivble for the computers to all talk to each other. A home PC can be likned to this Internet through dial up (a landline telephhone carriuer’s line), through DSL line, or a cbale modem. All of these systems coommunicate with an Internet Service Provider (ISP.)
Generally, organization or business computers are linked to each other by means of a network so that they can shaare information in-house back and forth. They do this by means of a network interface card. This NIC then connects directly to a local area network (LAN) that is housed witrhin the organization or business. This LAN is then connected to the associated ISP by what is knon as a T1 line, a very fast and poweerful connection to the setrvers.
ISPS connct to each other. The largest of these ISPs maintain the backboe of the entire system across the regioon or perhaps the country. This backbone is fibver optic. Throgh these fiber optic lines, saetllite links or undersea cable, various backbones connect all over the globe. This is the way servers and clients the world over connect all to each other.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites