what is web server?

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A web server is a computer that stores web server software and a website's component files (for example, HTML documents, images, CSS stylesheets, and JavaScript files). A web server connects to the Internet and supports physical data interchange with other devices connected to the web.




        To publish a website, you need either a static or a dynamic web server.

A static web server, or stack, consists of a computer (hardware) with an HTTP server (software). We call it "static" because the server sends its hosted files as-is to your browser.



A dynamic web server consists of a static web server plus extra software, most commonly an application server and a database. We call it "dynamic" because the application server updates the hosted files before sending content to your browser via the HTTP server.

For example, to produce the final webpages you see in the browser, the application server might fill an HTML template with content from a database. Sites like MDN or Wikipedia have thousands of webpages. Typically, these kinds of sites are composed of only a few HTML templates and a giant database, rather than thousands of static HTML documents. This setup makes it easier to maintain and deliver the content.

Deeper Drive

To review: to fetch a webpage, your browser sends a request to the web server, which searches for the requested file in its own storage space. Upon finding the file, the server reads it, processes it as needed, and sends it to the browser. Let's look at those steps in more detail.

Hosting Files

First, a web server has to store the website's files, namely all HTML documents and their related assets, including images, CSS stylesheets, JavaScript files, fonts, and video.

Technically, you could host all those files on your own computer, but it's far more convenient to store files all on a dedicated web server because:

  • A dedicated web server is typically more available (up and running).
  • Excluding downtime and system troubles, a dedicated web server is always connected to the Internet.
  • A dedicated web server can have the same IP address all the time. This is known as a dedicated IP address. (Not all ISPs provide a fixed IP address for home lines.)
  • A dedicated web server is typically maintained by a third party.

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