Web Server Definition
Intermediate – Computing
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The Web server definition is a software that runs in a server that is capable of hosting web content such as web pages and web applications. Web servers are always connected to the Internet. In a web server, You can host static content such as web pages, images, and videos as well as dynamic content such as blog posts that generate different content based on logged in user’s location or language selection.
Step-by-Step guide on how Web Server works?
- Let’s say you want to host a website using a web server. Inside a folder of your web server, you have to save the static or dynamic web content belonging to your website.
- The web server is connected to the Internet, hence it has an internet protocol (IP) address. The website you host has a domain name generated via this IP address.
- The web server also has a port number which it is running on and listening to transmission control protocol (TCP) connection which allows you to deliver the data from your web server to the web clients.
- The web server uses hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) which defines how the web content is formatted and transmitted from one computer to another computer over the Internet.
- The HTTP protocol and domain name generate a unique web address for your web site. This address is called a uniform resource locator (URL).
- The web client which could be a laptop, a desktop or a mobile phone can request for this web site from the web server using this URL.
- The web server processes the request and responds back to the web client with the requested website.