Web Servers | It's types, characteristics, advantages, disadvantages and basic features | Quicky Tech

INTRODUCTION TO WEB SERVERS 

A web server is software and hardware that utilizes HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and other protocols to respond to client requests made over the World Wide Web. The main job of a web server is to exhibit website content through storing, processing and distributing webpages to users. Besides HTTP, web servers withal support SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and FTP (File Transfer Protocol), utilized for email, file transfer and storage.

Web server hardware is connected to the cyber world and sanctions data to be exchanged with other connected contrivances, while web server software controls how a utilizer accesses hosted files. The web server process is an example of the client/server model. All computers that host websites must have web server software.

Web servers are utilized in web hosting, or the hosting of data for websites and web-predicated applications -- or web applications.

Web server is a computer program that provides requested files to the users via HTTP and distributes information on worldwide web.

• The major function of web server is to store and process required information and provide web pages to its clients.
• The whole process of communication between the client and the server takes place through Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
• The delivered pages are mostly in HTML format.
• Your browser connects to a server and requests a page.
• The server send e back the requested page.
• Your local computer w/ Web browser software.
• Server computer w/Web server software.

It is were a Web Pages stored on a special server.

A Web server is a program that uses HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to serve the files that form Web pages to users, in response to their requests, which are forwarded by their computers' HTTP clients.

Web server can also be defined as an internet server that responds to clients' requests through HTTP and deliver the required web pages.

For eg. If you are sitting in front of a computer and surfing internet, you get an email from your friend asking you to check latest tech updates and offers on https://www.quickytechx.online. You can simply type this URL into your web browser and press Enter key. The website with existing offers will open up in front of you despite the fact that website or web page is hosted anywhere else in the world.

A web server is always connected to the internet and has unique address with a series of four numbers between 0 and 255 separated by periods. This unique address is known as IP address of the computer.

Types of Web Servers:

There are different types of web servers available in internet world. Web hosting companies select any web server based on their client's requirements as the number of clients going to work on a single server, software being used by client and amount of traffic they would be going to generate.

Generally, there are various types of web servers. These types are as under:

•  Apache Web Server. 
• IIS Web Server. 
• Nginx Web Server. 
• LiteSpeed Web Server. 
• Apache Tomcat. 
• Node. 
• Lighttpd.
• Google server.
• Internet information services.
• Jigsaw server.
• Sun Java System Web Server.

There are mainly four types of web servers – Apache Web Server, IIS, Nginx and LiteSpeed.

Out of these, Apache is the most popular web server in the world that can be installed on almost all operating systems. Around 65% of machines run on Apache Web Server. The explanation of these four main types are as:

 

1. Apache Web server.

2. IIS Web server.

3. Nginx.

4. Litespeed.

1. Apache Web Server

The Apache HTTP Server, colloquially called Apache, is a free and open-source cross-platform web server software, relinquished under the terms of Apache License 2.0. Apache is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the auspices of the Apache Software Substructure.

2. Internet Information Server

Internet Information Accommodations is an extensible web server software engendered by Microsoft for use with the Windows NT family. IIS fortifies HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP and NNTP.

3. Nginx

Nginx, stylized as NGINX, nginx or NginX, is a web server that can additionally be utilized as a inversion proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. The software was engendered by Igor Sysoev and publicly relinquished in 2004. Nginx is free and open-source software, relinquished under the terms of the 2-clause BSD license.

4. Litespeed

Lite Speed Web Server, is a proprietary web server software. It is the 4th most popular web server, estimated to be utilized by 8.1% of websites as of December 2020. LSWS is developed by privately held Lite Speed Technologies.

Characteristics of web servers:

A web server computer is just like any other computer. The basic characteristics of web servers are:

• It is always connected to the internet so that clients can access the web pages hosted by the web server.

• It always has an application called "web server" running.

Advantages of web servers:

1. Interactions

A web server always provides the opportunity to interact with the hosting provider. For instance, if the utilizer needs to ken the mechanism abaft the web server, they will be able to communicate and get the erudition. 

2. Configurations

The log files present in a web server is made facile to configure. They can be configured to an order preferred by the utilizer. Configuring web files paves the way for analyzing operations within an operating system and web traffic. 

3. Flexibility

Hosting through a web server is far more flexible compared to a clustered web hosting. The flexibility is even more when utilizing a dedicated web hosting server. Construal, there is better control over accommodations.

4. Download Capabilities

If you own a website that has frequent downloading links, then web servers will be the best option to be utilized. A website utilizing web server experiences less number of bandwidth restrictions. And withal, users can facilely monitor the haste and performance of web applications that is been utilized on a web server.

5. Sharing Resources

Whenever there is incipient requests, a web server does not sanction sharing of resources such as processor, hard drive or the bandwidth with others since it is not a shared host. Even under the condition of obtaining virtual internet hosting.

Disadvantages of  web servers:

1. Cost

The expenses involved in a web server is far more more preponderant compared to an electronic web hosting method. Always a local web server is equipped with monthly costs which is conventionally extravagant. Depending on the type of resources and the infrastructure, the price varies.

2. Security

Utilizing web servers additionally brings many security concerns. Some of the web servers sanction HTTP traffic rather than HTTPS. The transactions that is taking place through the HTTP is kenned to undergo a process kenned as network packet sniffing.

3. Accomodation

The accomodation of web servers depends on the type of website you are utilizing. It will be convenient as far as the website is an online enterprise. Most web servers doesn't seem to work well for websites with customized design and style. In that case the only option will be utilizing a clustered web hosting machine.

4. Web Reference

The contents on the web is edited frequently. As a result, it becomes infeasible for the web servers to work without a cyberspace access. Sometimes the references that is available on a webpage will be vanished once the page is closed.

5. Traffic Congestion

In some instances, there can be hardware failures, software errors, updates or maintenances in the web server which causes partial availability of it. As a result, all the remaining web servers undergo traffic congestion. Which designates that the web server receives more traffic than mundane.

Basic features of web servers

Most web servers have features that sanction you to do the following:

• Engender one or more websites. (No I don't mean build a set of web pages. What I denote is, set up the website in the web server, so that the website can be viewed via HTTP)
• Configure log file settings, including where the log files are preserved, what data to include on the log files etc. (Log files can be habituated to analyse traffic etc)
• Configure website/directory security. For example, which utilizer accounts are/aren't sanctioned to view the website, which IP addresses are/aren't sanctioned to view the website etc.
• Engender an FTP site. An FTP site sanctions users to transfer files to and from the site.
• Engender virtual directories, and map them to physical directories
• Configure/nominate custom error pages. This sanctions you to build and exhibit utilizer amicable error messages on your website. For example, you can designate which page is exhibited when a utilizer endeavors to access a page that doesn't subsist (i.e. a 404 error).
• Designate default documents. Default documents are those that are exhibited when no file denomination is designated. For example, if you open http://localhost, which file should be exhibited? This is typically index.html or kindred but it doesn't require to be. You could nominate index.cfm if your website is utilizing Cold Fusion. You could withal nominate a 2nd cull (in case there is no index.cfm file), and a 3rd cull, and so on.

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