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What
is a webserver?
Do you know how a web page is appearing in
your browser when you open it in a browser. Do you know from where
the images or audio has been appearing in any web page. They are
all from some web servers A Web server is a piece of computer
software that can respond to a browser's request for a page, and
deliver the page to the Web browser through the Internet. When
you call a web page by its address, the URL, for example, http://www.macronimous.com/default.asp,
then what happens exactly between your computer and the webserver
where the site is hosted? Let us discuss everything you want to
know about a web server in this article.
The Browser
- webserver communication
1. If you call
the URL(Uniform Resource Locator) http://www.macronimous.com/default.asp
in your browser, the browser will split-up and understand the three
parts,
a.
The http, (Hyper Text transfer Protocol),
b. The server name where the site is hosted and
c. The web page under the site, default.asp.
2.
The browser will communicate with a name server to translate the
server name "www.macronimous.com" into an IP (Internet
Protocol) Address, which it uses to connect to the server machine.
3. Then the browser then will be formed connection to the server
at that IP address on port 80.
4. By following the HTTP protocol, the browser sent a GET request
to the server, asking for the file "http://www.macronimous.com/default.asp".
5. Since the browser can under stand only The server then sent the
HTML text for the Web page to the browser, the webserver will interpret
the server-side scripting and will send the files in HTML format
to the Browser. For example, An IIS web server can interpret ASP
scripting and will send the browser as a HTML file.
6. Then the browser will interpret the HTML tags into formatted
webpages, as you see in the browser.
Static and Dynamic pages
Webserver helps people to create both static and dynamic pages. All HTML pages(with or without client-side scripts) are static, means, the html files will be sent to the browser without any intervention of the webserver. But when you write some server side script that can make the site dynamic, here the presence of webserver helps us to achieve the dynamic page. For example if you write a GuestBook in ASP then a webserver, here IIS, is needed to interpret it The Web server is actually processing information and generating a page based on the specifics of the query.
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What
else a webserver can do?
A webserver can provide security to your
pages to some level. A web server with SSL (secured Socket Layer)
can give you more protected pages, where you can do secured file
transaction like credit card processing. As we previously said web
servers can run your server side scripting. Here is the list of
some web servers and what server side scripts they can run.
Internet
Information server 5.0
- ASP, ASP.NET, CGI, Python, PHP
Apache - PHP, CGI/Perl, Python
Tomcat - CGI/Perl, JSP,Servlets,
JavaBeans
iPlanet - JSP, Servlets, Enterprise
JavaBeans
Chilisoft - ASP
Go webserver - LotusScript
The
following is the complete web comparison chart, tells about the
platforms which they run and their cost.
Web
Server Comparison Chart
| web
server |
Version |
Operating
System |
Price(Approx.)/Remarks |
| ACME
thttpd |
|
FreeBSD,
SunOS 4, Solaris 2, BSD/OS, Linux, OSF |
Free
|
| Amiga
Web Server |
|
Amiga |
Free
|
| Apache |
1.3.17
|
NetBSD,
Digital UNIX, AIX, OS/2, Windows 3.x, SCO, HPUX, Novell
NetWare, Macintosh, Be OS, Windows NT, Linux, VMS, AS/400,
Windows 95, FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris |
Free
|
| CERNHttpd |
|
|
|
| Commerce
Server/400 |
1.0D
|
AS/400 |
$4995
(suggested retail)
|
| EMWAC
HTTP Server |
0.991
|
Windows
NT |
Free
|
| GoAhead
WebServer |
2.1
|
HPUX,
Embedded, Windows NT, Linux, Windows CE, QNX, Windows
95, Windows 98, IRIX |
Free,
embedded web server
|
| Hawkeye |
1.3.5
|
Linux |
Private/educational
use - free
|
| Internet
Information Server |
5.0
|
Windows
2000 |
Free
with Win2000 server
|
| Jigsaw |
2.1.2
|
Win95,
WinNT and Solaris 2.x. OS/2, MacOS, BeOS, Linux, AS-400
and AIX with JDK1.2 and above
|
Free,
W3 license
|
| Lotus
Domino Go Webserver |
4.6.1
|
Digital
UNIX, AIX, OS/2, HPUX, Windows NT, Windows 95, IRIX,
Solaris |
$495;
free demo
|
| Netscape
Enterprise (AOL) Webserver 6.0 |
|
Solaris
2.6, 7, 8 &Windows NT 4 SP6a,
2000 Server SP1 or later |
N/A
|
| RapidControl
for Web(tm) |
3.01
|
NetBSD,
Digital UNIX, BSDI, Windows 3.x, SCO, HPUX, Windows
NT, Linux, MS-DOS, Windows 95, FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris |
Write
to sales@rapidlogic.com
|
| Savant |
2.1
|
Windows
NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 |
Free
|
| Spinnaker |
3.0
|
Windows
NT, Windows 95 |
$249
|
| Spyglass
MicroServer |
2.0
|
Embedded,
Windows NT, Linux, Solaris |
contact
Spyglass
|
| Stronghold
Secure Web Server |
3.0
|
NetBSD,
Digital UNIX, BSDI, AIX, SCO, HPUX, Linux, FreeBSD,
IRIX, Solaris |
Contact
c2.net
|
| Sun
ONE web Server |
|
Sun
Solaris[tm] 8, 7, and 2.6,Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6a,
Microsoft Windows 2000 SP1 or later, Red Hat Linux,
Hewlett-Packard HP-UX, Compaq Tru64 UNIX 5.0a |
$1495
|
| Sun
Chili!Soft ASP Server |
|
Sun
Solaris[tm] 8, 7, and 2.6 (SPARC® platform),Microsoft
Windows NT and 2000,AIX 4.3.3,HP-UX 11.0
|
Plug-In/
$495
|
| Viking |
1.06
|
Windows
NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 |
$100
for 90-day trial
|
| WebBase |
4.5
|
NT
4, 95, 98, 2000 |
$995-$1795
|
| WebSTAR
5.0 |
5.0
|
MacOS
X |
$399
|
| WebSite
Pro3.1.13.0 |
2.5.8
|
Windows
NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 |
$299
- $1999
|
| WebTen |
2.1
|
Macintosh |
$495
|
| Xitami
2.4d9 |
|
NetBSD,
Digital UNIX, BSDI, AIX, OS/2, Windows 3.x, SCO, HPUX,
Windows NT, Linux, VMS, QNX, Windows 95, FreeBSD, IRIX,
Solaris |
free/
$250
|
| Zeus
Web Server |
4.0
|
NetBSD,
Digital UNIX, BSDI, AIX, SCO, HPUX, Linux, FreeBSD,
IRIX, Solaris |
$1700
|
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Note:The
above table is prepared with the prices, specified in the corresponding
websites on December 2002.
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