What is Web Server & It's Types.pdf

A web server is a software program or hardware device that receives requests from web browsers or clients, retrieves the requested web pages and resources, and sends them back to the clients over the internet. It serves as the intermediary between users and websites, processing incoming requests and delivering the corresponding content, enabling users to access and view websites and web applications. When a user types a website's URL into their browser or clicks on a link, a request is sent to the web server hosting that website. The web server then processes the request, locates the requested files or resources (such as HTML documents, images, videos, or scripts), and sends them back to the user's browser as a response. This response is typically in the form of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messages.

In this article you will get a brief overview of web server and it's types.

Source - https://www.milesweb.in/blog/hosting/web-server-types-web-servers/?utm_source=PdfArticle&utm_campaign=Pdf-dineshk&utm_medium=PdfPromotion-070623

1. UnderstandingaWebServerandTypesofWeb
Servers
AprogramthatusesHTTPforservingfilesthatcreatewebpagesforusersinresponse
totheirrequeststhataresentbytheHTTPclientsoftheircomputeriscalledaweb
server.
IfanyserverdeliversanXMLdocumenttoanotherdevice,itcanbeawebserver.In
simplewords,awebserverisanInternetserverthatrespondstoHTTPrequestsfor
deliveringcontentandservices.
Let’stakeanexampleifyouareworkingonyourcomputer,browsingtheweb,anda
messagepop-upsfromyourfriendthat“Ihadjustreadagreatarticleatthefollowing
URL:https://www.milesweb.com/blog”.
So,youwillinsertthisURLintoyourbrowserandpressenter.That’sit!
Thewebserveronwhichyourwebsiteisbasedintheworlddoesn’tmatteratallasthe
pageyouhavebrowsedimmediatelyappearsonyourcomputerscreen.
Awebserverisneverdisconnectedfromtheinternet.Eachofthewebservershasa
uniqueaddressthatcomprisesaseriesoffournumbersbetween0and255.These
numbersareseparatedbyaperiod(.).
Withthewebserver,thehostingproviderscanmanagemultipledomains(users)ona
singleserver.
Awebhostingproviderrentsthespaceonaserverorclusterofserversforpeopleto
createtheironlinepresencewithawebsite.
TypesofWebServers
Therearemainlyfourtypesofwebservers–Apache,IIS,Nginx,andLiteSpeed.

2. ApacheWebServer
ApachewebserverisoneofthemostpopularwebserversdevelopedbytheApache
SoftwareFoundation.Opensourcesoftware,Apachesupportsalmostalloperating
systemssuchasLinux,Windows,UnixFreeBSD,MacOSX,andmore.Approximately,
60%ofthemachinesrunonApacheWebServer.
YoucaneasilycustomizeanApachewebserverduetoitsmodularstructure.Sinceit’s
opensource,yourownmodulescanbeaddedtotheserverwhenyouwanttomake
modificationstosuityourrequirements.
Itishighlystableascomparedtootherwebserversandtheadministrativeissuesonit
canberesolvedeasily.ItispossibletoinstallApacheonmultipleplatformssuccessfully.
Apache’slatestversionsofferyoutheflexibilitytohandlemorerequestswhen
comparedtoitsearlierversions.
IISWebServer
AMicrosoftproduct,IISisaserverthatoffersallthefeaturessuchasApache.Sinceit’s
notanopensource,addingpersonalmodulesaswellasmodifyingthembecomesabit
difficult.

3. ItsupportsalltheplatformsthatruntheWindowsoperatingsystem.Additionally,you
alsogetgoodcustomersupport,ifthereisanyissue.
NginxWebServer
Nginxisthenextopen-sourcewebserverafterApache.ItcomprisesofIMAP/POP3
proxyserver.ThesignificantfeaturesofferedbyNginxarehighperformance,stability,
simpleconfiguration,andlowresourceusage.
NothreadsareusedtohandletherequestsbyNginx,instead,ahighlyscalable
event-drivenarchitecturethatusesasmallandpredictableamountofmemoryunder
loadisutilized.Ithasbecomepopularrecentlyandhostsabout7.5%ofalldomains
globally.Manywebhostingcompanieshavestartedusingthisserver.
LiteSpeedWebServer
Ahigh-performanceApachedrop-inreplacement,LiteSpeed(LSWS)isthe4thpopular
webserverontheinternetandisacommercialwebserver.
WhenyouupgradeyourwebservertoLiteSpeed,youwillexperienceimproved
performancethattoowithlowoperatingcosts.
ThisserveriscompatiblewiththemostcommonApachefeaturessuchas.htaccess,
mod_rewrite,andmod_security.
IthastheabilitytoloadApacheconfigurationfilesdirectlyandworkasadrop-in
replacementApachewithalmostallthehostingcontrolpanels.Itcanreplacethe
Apachewithin15minuteswithoutanydowntime.

4. LSWSreplacesalltheApachefunctionswhichotherfront-endproxysolutionscan’tdo
tosimplifytheuseandmakethetransitionfromApachesmoothandeasy.
SearchingforVPSHostingwithLiteSpeedWebServer?TryMilesWebVPSHosting
andexperiencesuperiorwebsiteperformancewithLiteSpeedWebServer.
ApacheTomcat
Anopen-sourceJavaservletcontainer,ApacheTomcatfunctionsasawebserver.A
JavaprogramthatexpandsthecapabilitiesofaserveriscalledaJavaservlet.Servlets
canrespondtoanytypeofrequestbuttheymostcommonlyimplementapplications
hostedonwebservers.ThesewebservletsareJavaequivalenttootherdynamicweb
contenttechnologiessuchasPHPandASP.NET.SunMicrosystemsdonatedTomcat’s
codebasetotheApacheSoftwareFoundationin1999whichbecameatop-level
Apacheprojectin2005.Currently,itpowersjustunder1%ofallwebsites.
ReleasedundertheApacheLicenseversion2,ApacheTomcatistypicallyusedtorun
Javaapplications.But,itcanbeextendedwithCoyote,sothatitcanalsoperformthe
roleofanormalwebserverthatserveslocalfilesasHTTPdocuments.
Often,ApacheTomcatislistedamongotheropen-sourceJavaapplicationservers.
SomeexamplesareWildfly,JBoss,andGlassfish.

5. Node.js
Node.jsisbasicallyaserver-sideJavaScriptenvironmentthatisusedfornetwork
applicationssuchaswebservers.ItwasoriginallywrittenbyRyanDahlin2009.Having
asmallermarketposition,Node.jsruns0.2%ofallwebsites.TheNode.jsproject,
managedbytheNode.jsFoundation,isassistedbytheLinuxFoundation’s
CollaborativeProjectsprogram.
Node.jsdiffersfromotherpopularwebserversbecauseitismainlyacross-platform
runtimeenvironmentforbuildingnetworkapplications.Anevent-drivenarchitectureis
appliedbyNode.jswhichiscapableofasynchronousI/O.Duetothesedesignchoices
throughputandscalabilityareoptimizedinwebapplicationswhichhelpstorunreal-time
communicationandbrowsergames.Node.jsalsohelpsinunderstandingthedifference
inwebdevelopmentstacks,whereNode.jsisclearlypartoftheHTML,CSS,and
JavaScriptstack,asopposedtoApacheorNGINXwhichareapartofseveraldifferent
softwarestacks.
Node.jsisreleasedunderamixoflicenses.
Lighttpd
Pronouncedas“lightly”,LighttpdwasinitiallyreleasedinMarch2003.Itcurrentlyruns
approximately0.1%ofallwebsitesandisdistributedunderaBSDlicense.

6. LighttpdstandsuniqueduetoitssmallCPUload,lowmemoryfootprint,andspeed
optimizations.Anevent-drivenarchitectureisusedbyitandisoptimizedforalarge
numberofparallelconnections,andsupportsFastCGI,Auth,Output-compression,
SCGI,URL-rewriting,andmanymorefeatures.Itisapopularlyusedwebserverforthe
webframeworkssuchasCatalystandRubyonRails.
Therearealsosomeothertypesofserversasbelow:
MailServer:Inamailserver,yougetacentrally-locatedpoolofdiskspacetostoreand
sharedifferentdocumentsintheformofemailsfornetworkusers.Allthedataisstored
inasinglelocationandso,administratorsneedtobackupfilesonlyfromonecomputer.
ApplicationServer:Itactsasasetofcomponentsthatcanbeaccessedbythe
softwaredeveloperviaanAPIdefinedbytheplatformitself.Thesecomponentsare
usuallyperformedinanenvironmentsimilartoitswebserver(s)fortheweb
applications.Theirmainjobistosupporttheconstructionofdynamicpages.
FileTransferProtocol(FTP)Server:Aseparatecontrolanddataconnectionareused
bytheFTPbetweentheclientandtheserver.ItispossibleforFTPuserstoauthorize
themselvesintheformofausernameandpassword.
However,theycanconnectusinganonymousnames,iftheserverisn’tconfiguredto
allowthem.Fortransmissionsecurity,theusernameandpasswordneedtobe
encryptedusingFTPandSSL.

7. DatabaseServer:Acomputerprogramthatoffersdatabaseservicestoothercomputer
programsorcomputerswiththeuseofclient-serverfunctionalityiscalledadatabase
server.TherearesomeDBMSs(forexampleMySQL)thatdependontheclient-server
modelfordatabaseaccess.Thistypeofserverisaccessibleeitherviaa“frontend”that
runsontheuser’scomputerwheretherequestismadeorthe“backend”whereitis
servedsuchasdataanalysisandstorage.
DomainNameSystem(DNS)Server:Acomputerserverthathostsanetworkservice
forofferingresponsestoqueriesiscalledanameserver.Itmapseitheranaddressing
componentornumericidentification.Thisisdonebytheservertogivearesponsetoa
networkserviceprotocolrequest.
TheseDNSserversprimarilytranslatethehuman-memorabledomainnamesandhost
namesintothecorrespondingnumericInternetprotocol(IP)addresses.DNSalsohelps
torecognizeanamespaceoftheInternet,usedtoidentifyandlocatecomputersystems
andresourcesontheInternet.
Concluding…
Webhostingcompaniesmainlyselectwebserversbasedontherequirementofclients,
thenumberofclientsonasingleserver,theapplications/softwareclientsuse,andthe
amountoftrafficawebservercanhandlegeneratedbytheclients.So,whileselectinga
webserverfirstofallthinkaboutalltheseaspectsandthenselectone.