The next stop on our adventure is the Web Server. The web server is key to storing and retrieving data on the Internet. Web servers make web pages possible, which without most people would not have a use for the Internet. A web server is made up of two components: the hardware that it runs on and the web server software itself which turns a regular server into a web server.
A client uses a web server every time they access a website. For instance, you are reading my blog right now which is hosted on a web server owned and operated by Blogspot. You more than likely got here either through a Google search (also a website) or via a direct link. The direct link should clue you in to a few things. One, you are accessing my server space here: http://rmoorehead-mist7500.blogspot.com/ then if there is anything after the slash you are access an individual file on the server. If there is nothing after the slash, you are still accessing a file, you just don't know it. You are accessing the index file.
So in essence, a web server is very much like navigating your desktop with a file structure of folders and individual files. The magic comes when a web server receives requests and processes them and sends them back out via the Internet.
The hardware requirements for a web server are pretty basic: a large storage space, a fast processor, and a permanent IP. If you'd like to read more about the differences between a regular desktop and a web server, please review this article. The software is where the fun part comes in. There is huge competition in the web server arena between Microsoft's IIS platform and the Unix-based Apache offering with Sun bringing up the rear with some specialization optimizations.
Web servers just like user's browser clients have developed over the years. The concept of the web server and a central repository of information was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. And due to it's popularity, Berners-Lee initiated the W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium, to regulate the web he helped to build in 1994. Since then, the concept of a web server has grown. We now can have virtual web servers and web servers based in a cloud environment in essence taking the hardware component out of the picture.
More Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_server
http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/basics/what_is_web_server.php
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server.htm
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