|
| |
The World Wide Web is made up of hundreds of thousands of web servers
around the world that store data and transfer files from one machine to
another. By simply clicking on hyperlinks, information can be
retrieved from anywhere in the worlds in a second or two.
Communication between a personal computer a server computer uses a
protocol called HTTP. When someone requests a web page (e.g. yahoo.com),
the web browser must first determine where that page physically resides. A
series of DNS servers (Domain Name Servers) exist around the world that map
virtual domain names such as "yahoo.com" to a physical addresses (e.g.
216.235.161.11)
where that website is hosted. All devices connected to the world wide web
must have an IP address.
Once the physical address of the server is known, a request for the page
is sent from node to node (i.e. computer to computer) until it finally
arrives at the server computer where the website is hosted. Using the
same HTTP protocol, the web server responds to the request by returning one
or more files (e.g. web page, web page parts, graphics, animations, videos,
scripts) that are needed by the web browser to assemble and display the
page.
| |
|
