Web Server

• A software program or server computer

equipped to offer World Wide Web access.
• Web servers allow you to serve content over
the Internet using the Hyper Text
Markup Language (HTML).
• The Web server accepts requests from browsers
like Netscape and Internet Explorer and then
returns the appropriate HTML documents.
 Web Server
• A web server is a computer with special software
to host web pages and web applications.
• A computer that provides Web services and pages
to intranet and Internet users.
• A web server serves web pages to clients across
the Internet or an Intranet. The web server hosts
the pages, scripts, programs, and multimedia files
and serves them using HTTP, a protocol designed
to send files to web browsers and other protocols.
 Web Server Cont...
• A number of server-side technologies can
be used to increase the power of the server
beyond its ability to deliver standard HTML
pages
• These include CGI scripts, server-side
includes, SSL security, and Active Server
Pages(ASPs)
How Web servers Work -
Overview
 How Web servers Work -
Overview Cont...
• Perhaps the most important expansion on this was the
concept of dynamic content (i.e., Web pages created in
response to a user's input, whether directly or
indirectly).
• The oldest and most used standard for doing this is
Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
• It basically defines how a Web server should run
programs locally and transmit their output through the
Web server to the user's Web browser that is requesting
the dynamic content.
How Web servers Work -
Overview Cont...
 Web Server and Browser
Interaction
• A Web Browser acts as an interface between
the user and the Web server
• The browser carries out the following on behalf
of the user
– Contacts a web server
– Sends a request for information
– Receives the information and
– Displays it on the user's computer
 How Does a Web Server Accept
Connections?
• Accept network connections from browsers
• Retrieve content from disk
• Run local CGI programs
• Transmit data back to clients
• Be as fast as possible
• Support multi-threading and multi-
processing
 How Do You Organize Web
Servers for Performance?
• Dynamic content typically relies on heavy
database usage or processing of
other program code, which takes up many
server-side resources.
• Web site that has grown popular beyond its
immediate means of serving content and
ways to spread this load out
 Load Balancing
• DNS balancing (round-robin type)
• Hardware load balancing
• Software load balancing
• Reverse proxying
• Content spreading across hosts
• Content spreading across outsourced
providers
Load Balancing Cont...
 How Does Web Server Security
Work?
• Security of the data stream itself so that it
may not be viewed or modified by a
malicious third party
• Security of the content itself -- the
authentication and authorization of people
to view and change that content
Server Version Operating System Price Range

AOLserver 3.1 Digital UNIX, SCO, HPUX, Windows NT, Linux, Free
Windows 95, FreeBSD, Windows 98, IRIX, Solaris

Allegro RomPager
AnalogX SimpleServer:WWW
3.6 NetBSD, Digital UNIX, BSDI, AIX, OS/2, Contact
Windows 3.x, SCO, HPUX, Novell NetWare,
Macintosh, Be OS, Embedded, Windows NT, Sales@allegrosoft.com
Linux, Windows CE, MS-DOS, VM/CMS,
MVS,VMS, QNX, S/400, Windows 95, FreeBSD,
Windows 98, IRIX, Solaris, Amiga
1.05 Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 Free

Apache 1.3.17 NetBSD, Digital UNIX, AIX, OS/2, Windows 3.x, Free
SCO, HPUX, Novell NetWare, Macintosh, Be OS,
Windows NT, Linux, VMS,
AS/400, Windows 95, FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris
Baikonur Web App Server 1.9 Windows NT, Windows 95 $995

Commerce Server/400 1.0D AS/400 $4995 (suggested

EMWAC HTTP Server 0.991 Windows NT Free retail)

EmWeb Embedded Web Server R5_2_1 HPUX, Embedded, Windows NT, Linux, Windows Call Agranat Systems
95, Windows 98, Solaris
Enterprise Server 3.0 Novell NetWare $1,295

GoAhead WebServer 2.1 HPUX, Embedded, Windows NT, Linux, Windows Free, embedded web
CE, QNX, Windows 95, Windows 98, IRIX
Server
Internet Information Server 4.0 Windows NT Free with NT 4.0
option pack
Java Server 1.1 OS/2, HPUX, Windows NT, Linux, Windows 95, $295
IRIX, Solaris
Server Version Operating System Price Range

Lotus Domino Go Webserver 4.6.1 Digital UNIX, AIX, OS/2, HPUX, Windows NT, $495; free demo
Windows 95, IRIX, Solaris

Netscape Enterprise Server 3.5.1 Digital UNIX, AIX, HPUX, Windows NT, IRIX $1,295

Oracle Web Application Server 3.01 HPUX, Windows NT, Windows 95, Solaris call Oracle

Spinnaker 3.0 Windows NT, Windows 95 $249

Viking 1.06 Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 $100 for 90-day trial

WebBase 4.5 Windows 3.x, Windows 95 $695

WebSite Professional 2.5.8 Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 $799

Xitami 2.4d8 NetBSD, Digital UNIX, BSDI, AIX, OS/2, Xitami: free:
Windows 3.x, SCO, HPUX, Windows NT, Linux, Xitami/Pro: $99
VMS, QNX, Windows 95, FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris
 Personal Web Server
• Microsoft's Personal Web Server (PWS) is a scaled-
down version of the commercial Information Internet
Server (IIS) included with the Server edition of
Microsoft Windows NT.
• Designed for Windows 95/98/ME and Windows NT
Workstation users.
• PWS is a great entry-level Web server that makes it
easy to publish personal home pages, serve small
Web sites, and share documents via a local intranet.
• PWS is one of the best servers available for helping
to get you up and running quickly.
 Personal Web Server Cont…
• Wizards are included to guide you through the process
of setting up home pages and sharing files, and the
PWS administrator reduces the complexity of actually
running the Web server itself.
• One of the best uses for PWS is as a platform for testing
out Web sites on your Windows 95/Windows NT
Workstation computers before hosting them on the
Internet
• This allows you to check the validity of links, scripts,
and applications as well as to ensure that the overall
organization of the site is functioning correctly
 Personal Web Server Cont…
• The server does include support for Active Server
Pages (ASP), script debugging
• PWS presents the ability to develop
transactional Web applications using the
Microsoft Transaction Server
• No UNIX version, Lacks some of the more
advanced features included with IIS, Only runs on
Windows 95/98/ME Windows NT Workstation,
Slower than IIS
 H/W Requirements
• For Intel-based Windows95/98/ME,
Windows NT 4.0 Workstations
– Intel 486 33 MHz minimum /Pentium 133 MHz
recommended
– 16 MB RAM minimum / 32 MB RAM
recommended
– 40 MB of free HDD Space for installation
Personal Web Server Installation
• Down load PWS from the site
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/nto
ptionpack/askwiz.asp
• Run setup program and follow the
instructions
 Apache Web Server
• Apache remains the king of Web servers despite
intense efforts by Microsoft and Netscape to gain
dominance in the market
• Its cross-platform support, protocol support
(HTTP/1.1), modularity (API), security, logging,
and overall performance and robustness
• Apache runs on Windows (95/98/NT), OS/2,
and all the major variants of Unix