Welcome to the 23rd day of our 50-day quest for back-end mastery! Today, we will be discussing an essential component of the web - servers. Web servers play a critical role in serving web content to users all over the world and understanding how they work is essential for anyone looking to master back-end development. In this blog post, we will begin by discussing the basics of the internet, including how it works and the role of servers in the internet. We will then dive deeper into the topic of web servers, discussing the different types of web servers available, and the hardware and software components required for a web server to function properly. By the end of this post, you will have a solid understanding of how web servers fit into the larger picture of web development and be well on your way to mastering the back-end. So, let's get started!

How the Internet Works: A Basic Explanation

The Internet is a global network of computers that are connected to each other. When you use your computer or mobile device to access a website, it sends a request for the website's information to a server. The server is a powerful computer that stores all the files and data for that website. Once the server receives your request, it sends the website's information back to your device, which then displays the website for you to interact with. So, in simple terms, The Internet is a bunch of big computers (servers) connected together and share information, and when we access a website, our device sends a request to the server and the server responds back with the information of the website we requested.

What is a web server?

A web server is a type of computer that receives requests from clients (such as a web browser) and sends back responses (such as a webpage). It is essentially a bridge between the client and the web.

From a hardware perspective, a web server is a computer that has the necessary components to run web server software. This includes things like a powerful processor, plenty of memory, and large storage capacity. Web servers can be physical machines or virtual machines running on cloud infrastructure.

From a software perspective, a web server uses web server software (such as Apache, nginx, or IIS) to process requests and send responses. The server also requires an operating system, such as Windows or Linux, to run. Additionally, web servers often use scripting languages (such as PHP, Python, or Ruby) to generate dynamic content for the response.

In simple terms, a web server is a computer that receives requests from clients and sends back responses. It is responsible for handling the technical details of serving web content, so that clients can easily access and view web pages.

Hardware Perspective of Web Servers:

Web servers are big computers that store and share websites with other computers. They need some important things to work well, such as:

• A fast brain (processing power) to handle many requests at the same time

• A big memory (RAM) to keep website information and handle requests

• A big storage space (hard drive or network-attached storage) to keep all the files and data for the websites

Web servers can be physical machines, which means they are actual computers or they can also be virtual machines, which are computer simulations running on a physical machine. Web servers can also be running on cloud infrastructure, which means that the resources are provided through cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

Software Perspective of Web Servers:

Web servers use different types of software to work properly. These include:

• Operating System: A web server needs an operating system, such as Windows or Linux, to run. This is the basic software that controls the computer and allows other software to run on it.

• Web server software: A web server needs special software, such as Apache or nginx, to handle the requests it receives and send the correct website information back.

• Scripting languages: Some websites use special languages such as PHP, Python, or Ruby, to create dynamic websites that change based on user input. The web server needs software that can understand and process these languages.

In addition to the standard software components of a web server, developers may also use additional tools and frameworks to build and test their websites on their local machines. One such tool is Express.js, a popular web framework for Node.js (a JavaScript runtime). Express.js is used to handle routing and middleware, which are used to process incoming requests and send back the appropriate responses.

Another tool that is often used in conjunction with Express.js is the HTTP module, which is built into Node.js. The HTTP module is used to handle the low-level details of communicating over the internet using the HTTP protocol. It provides an easy way for developers to create web servers and make HTTP requests.

All these software components work together to make sure that the web server understands the requests it receives and sends the correct information back to the user's device.

In summary, a web server is a combination of hardware and software that work together to process requests for web pages, interpret them and send the appropriate information back to the user's device.

How a Web Server Works:

When a user enters a web address into their browser and hits enter, their browser sends a request to the server where the corresponding website is hosted. This is how a web server works:

1. Receive Request: The web server receives the request from the user's browser and begins the process of handling it.

2. Parse Request: The web server parses the request to understand what the user is asking for. It extracts the URL, the HTTP method used (GET, POST, etc.) and any other relevant information.

3. Determine Action: The web server uses the information extracted from the request to determine what action needs to be taken. This could include looking for the requested webpage in its storage, or executing a script that generates the webpage dynamically.

4. Send Response: Once the web server has determined the appropriate action, it sends a response back to the user's browser. The response could be the requested webpage, an error message, or a redirect to a different webpage.

5. Close the connection: Once the response is sent, the connection between the browser and the server is closed, and the process is completed.

Basically, a web server is always listening for requests, once it receives a request it parses it, understand it and determine the necessary action, and then sends a response back to the browser.

Conclusion

In conclusion, web servers play a critical role in the functioning of the internet by serving web content to users all over the world. Understanding how web servers work is essential for anyone looking to master back-end development. In this blog post, we discussed the basics of the internet, including how it works and the role of servers in the internet. We also delved deeper into the topic of web servers, discussing the different types of web servers available, and the hardware and software components required for a web server to function properly. To further your understanding of the internet and servers, we recommend checking out the following resources: "How does the INTERNET work?" video found at https://youtu.be/x3c1ih2NJEg and "How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes" video found at https://youtu.be/7_LPdttKXPc. We hope that this blog has helped you to gain a better understanding of the role of web servers in the larger picture of web development. Thank you for reading and we hope that you continue to learn and grow with us in our 50-day quest for back-end mastery.