Have you ever wondered where all the content of your digital marketing strategy that you upload to your website is located?
It is therefore the web servers. These are fundamental for the Internet and if they did not exist, browsing the web would be very different from what we know today.
With the digital transformation and the increasing use of the Internet, it was more than necessary to create servers that were capable of storing and broadcasting the (almost infinite) library of information that we find on the web.
Think of web servers as a “normal” office computer, except in this case they are set up to be on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year .
Still have questions? Don’t worry, in this article we will answer everything you need to know about web servers. Keep reading!
- What is a server?
- What is a web server used for on the Internet?
- How does a web server work?
- What are the characteristics of a web server?
- What types of web servers exist?
- To conclude
What is a server?
A web server is a high-powered sweden telegram data computer that is responsible for “providing the service” of transmitting the information requested by its clients (other computers, mobile devices, printers, people, etc.)
Web servers are a component of servers whose main function is to store, in web hosting , all the files of a web page (images, texts, videos, etc.) and transmit them to users through browsers using the HTTP protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
What is a web server used for on the Internet?
The primary role of a web server is to understand what organizational culture is, its importance and main types store and transmit requested content from a website to the user’s browser .
For Internet users, this process takes no more than a second, but at the web server level it is a more complicated sequence than it seems.
In order to perform its functions, the server must be able to remain on at all times to avoid interrupting the service it offers its clients. If the server fails or shuts down, Internet users will have problems accessing the website.
How does a web server work?
Communication between a server and its ba leads clients is based on HTTP, that is, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol or its encoded variant HTTPS.
To understand how it works, it is first necessary to know that the web server is permanently waiting for a request for information .
Also, keep in mind that every computer, smartphone or tablet has a unique and unrepeatable IP address that identifies it from another device on the network, this is how the web server sends the exact information that the Internet user is expecting.
Now, for the web server to be able to fulfill its function, it is necessary for it to receive the request from a browser; in other words, a request is sent from an IP address to the IP address of the server that hosts the files of the site in question.
The web server then searches its files for the information being requested, proceeds to interpret the lines of code and send the result to the browser whose IP address was the requester.
This result is shown to Internet users and is what always happens when browsing Internet sites. When this process is complete we can say that the web server has fulfilled its function.
What are the characteristics of a web server?
As necessary features of a web server at the software and hardware level , we can find:
At the software level
Operating System
It is responsible for ensuring that the hardware works and can interact with the services that the system runs. Some examples are:
- Unix,
- Linux,
- or Windows.
File systems
It is a logical guide that allows the system to locate, sort and filter data on the hard drive, so that we can read, modify or delete it.
HTTP Server Software
These are the different types of web servers specialized in transmitting content via the web (Apache, Nginx, IIS, Caddy, etc.).
Virtual Hosting
It allows several different websites to be hosted under the same web server and IP.
Dispatch of static and dynamic files
Static files provide support for hosting and serving files such as:
- JPG,
- GIF,
- PNG,
- BMP,
- CSS ,
- TXT,
- HTML,
- Javascript,
- MP3
- and MP4.
Dynamic files work for data in PHP, ASP, Python, Ruby, and GO.
Network Monitoring and Boundaries
It allows monitoring of network traffic, incoming and outgoing packets, as well as system services and hardware usage such as:
- the use of Storage;
- RAM consumption;
- CPU occupancy percentage;
- network speed;
- disk read/write performance.
Security system
A server’s security system must:
- impose access limits by IP address;
- deny or allow you access to certain files or URLs;
- request username and password for HTTP basic authentication;
- perform filtering of insecure requests;
- support for sending encrypted information with SSL security certificates via HTTPS.
At the hardware level
Rack and cabinet
The rack refers to the place where the servers are physically housed and the cabinet is the frame that holds the hardware components of a computer.
CPU
It is the server’s data processing center from where all logical and mathematical calculations are performed so that the user can manipulate and access the data as needed.
RAM memory
It is used to store information and data temporarily depending on the user’s demand through the operating system.
Storage units
Web server storage is done on hard drives, which allow the storage of operating system information, system services, and ultimately the data uploaded by the user.
Network port
Bandwidth is what allows you to have enough volume to transmit information back and forth to and from your web server.
