The term “server” gets thrown around a lot with a lot of explination. A server is just a computer. It can be a lap top, a desktop or a rack mount sitting in a temperature controlled room. But basically a server is a computer with special software installed on it. Servers “server” information to other computers, anything from files like mp3′s and Word documents to webpages. In this post I’m going to focus on web servers. There are two main types of web servers: Windows which runs a program called IIS and Linux which runs a variety or programs of which Appache is the most popular. Appache is so popular in fact that 90% of the worlds web pages come from Appache web servers.
How does a web server work? When you type www.amlingstudios.com into your web browser, it sends a request over your internet connection to the web server that is hosting that web site. The web server looks for the HTML page that was requested. It then gathers that page along with all the images and assets associated with it and returns it to your web browser. Basically, you request the information and the web server “serves” it to you.