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ITIS 1210 Introduction to Web-Based Information Systems. Chapter 23 How Web Host Servers Work. Introduction. Websites need a place to live – a host Websites are hosted on a server Stored Distributed Server Manages communications protocols Houses the Web pages themselves
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ITIS 1210Introduction to Web-Based Information Systems Chapter 23 How Web Host Servers Work
Introduction • Websites need a place to live – a host • Websites are hosted on a server • Stored • Distributed • Server • Manages communications protocols • Houses the Web pages themselves • Supporting software
Introduction • Server software • Delivers the pages requested by clients • Acts on other requests from servers • Handles the HTTP requests • Communicates with the host’s OS • Which handles the TCP/IP functions
How Web Host Servers Work • Different types of server software handle different kinds of requests from clients • Database servers • FTP requests • Network servers • Mail servers • Web servers are HTTP servers • Sends HTML documents using HTTP
How Web Host Servers Work • Most of the time, the client requests an HTML page • Server receives request • Locates the .html file • Sends it back to the requesting client • Can do more however • Passes requests to run CGI scripts to CGI applications
How Web Host Servers Work • These scripts run external mini-programs • Database lookup • Process and interactive form • Server sends script to CGI • In a standardized format • CGI communicates with external program • Receives results back from external program • Formats & returns results
How Web Host Servers Work • Basic problem with IP addresses: • They are limited in scope because of their 0-255 format • IP addresses allow you to contact a specific computer • But how does that computer know which program you are using?
How Web Host Servers Work • The answer is port numbers • Value from 0 to 65535 • Think of it as the extension of a telephone number • A complete data transfer always includes a port number:
How Web Host Servers Work 213.153.38.220:80