Most of us are almost experts in navigating from one website to other or from one web page to the other. Unfortunately some of us will not be having the sound knowledge about this working system. To learn about how this system works then in simple word I can say that just know about web server. It is the answer for explaining how the entire system works.
(A) What is a Web server
If I have to define you what is web server , then I must say that web server is nothing but it is simply a computer system which processes requests through HTTP. Web server only responds to the every request for the web resources .Though we can say web server is basically referred to web sites hosting nut if you take into account there are other servers like FTP ,email , storage , game and so on.
(B) How does a web server work – Explained
Responding happens in either of ways here listed
# By sending file based on the requester URL to the client whoever is associated with the request.
# Invoking script & communicating with the database to generate response
This is the two ways in which web server working process happens.
(C) Linux or Windows Web server – Know the difference
Though both of them are equal in their function they differ in terms of their cost , stability and supporting . So choosing between windows server platform or Linux server platform is based on your hosting requirement.
Server Platform Comparison
Now let us make a cross comparison between Linux Vs Windows servers .
Windows server –
@ ASP scripts running is allowed.
@ Allows running .NET and Microsoft technologies
@ Microsoft SQL and Access database is supported
Linux Server
@ PHP,Perl,Python and Unix originated language scripts can be run.
@ Supports MySQL databases
@ PostgreSQL database is supported
You can choose Linux server platform if you doesn’t require any scripting support as it is highly economical.But if you look for database support as well as scripting support then you have to prefer only Windows platform server .
(D) Web Server Load Limit
You may have heard about overloading, it is because web server has some particular limits. It can vary depending on –
- HTTP Request type
- Static /Dynamic content
- Its own settings
- Limitations of hardware and software of the operating system of the system on which the web server is running.
It becomes unresponsive when the web server is overloaded.
Symptoms of Web Server Overload
Sometimes we can see that server hangs , server freezes one major reason behind this is overloading of web server.
Thus you should be aware about the symptoms of web server overload.
- It takes lot time for serving each request , sometimes more than a second to hundred seconds.
- HTTP error code is returned by web server
- Interruption or refusing of TCP connections by web server before returning content .
- Sometimes in rare situations of bug where web server will return only a part of the content requested.
Causes or Reasons for Web Server Overload
Server overloading can be caused by many factors like –
- Excess web traffic can result into overloading of server .
- DDoS attack or DoS attack by this a system or network resource will not be available for the user.
- Computer worms this is also a reason for server overload.
- Internet bots
- Network slowdown
- XSS viruses
- Web server problem like upgrading or any maintenance that makes web server partially unavailable.
How to Manage and prevent Web server Overload – Technique of popular websites
Here are the techniques used by the most popular websites to prevent server overloading and to manage server load limit.
- Block unwanted traffic using firewalls.
- Bandwidth management and traffic shaping.
- HTTP traffic managers to manage poor HTTP patterns.
- Set up web cache technique.
- Use different domain names for static & dynamic contents separately.
- Add more resources , i mean hardware like RAM , disks .
- Operating system parameters should be tuned for usage and capability of hardware.
- Web server with highly efficient computer programs.
(E) Server Error Code & HTTP Status Code by Web Server
Oops got an error page and wondering what it could mean then know it .HTTP status code will be sent by web server on all error situation .Usually a status code will be in the format of a 3 digit number indicating status code class as 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 .
Status code beginning with 1, 2 and 3 are simply nothing you have to focus much as these three class of status code will not result into an HTML error page as what to be done is clearly known to the client . So be chill with 1XX ,2XX ,3XX status code .
1XX
This status code have informational purpose only .
2XX
It is the class 2 status code indicating success.
3XX
The third class status code are redirection purpose codes indicating that to complete the request the client is supposed to make additional action. Mostly 3XX codes are been used in URL redirection .
These three classes as i said above it is not going to result into any error of HTML page.
4XX Error Codes – Client Side Errors
4XX ERRORS | |
| CODES | Reason |
| 400 | Bad Request |
| 401 | Authorization Required |
| 403 | Forbidden |
| 404 | Not Found |
| 408 | Request Time-Out |
| 401 | Gone |
400 Error Code – Bad Request
Getting 4XX error code means it is client side error . To say particularly Bad request error (Error 400) happens when the server is not able to understand the client request.
Why you get 400 Error code ?
You will be getting error 400 because of this reasons –
- OS not well protected.
- Internet connection is unstable.
- Browser is defective or a cache problem.
- Request that doesn’t obey HTTP protocol.
- Malformed syntax request.
How to Fix Error 400 ?
We have listed the reasons for error 400 , so if you are repeatedly getting error 400 then we advice you to check the webpage from different browser , clear cache and priority is to check you security updates. Do a security checkup on your PC if you get same error on different sites.
401 Error Code -Authorization code
401 is Authorization required code , usually appears with a pop up asking for password and login .It is server response for password protected web page.
403 Error Code – Forbidden
For certain reasons server refuse to fulfill the request though it understand sit clearly. It is mostly that website owner has restricted the visitors from browsing .Mostly for hiding the directory structure of the site and to stay safe from hackers website owners does this.
404 Error Code – Not Found
Most common and well known HTTP status code is 404 error code (Not found). When nothing is found on the requested location by server it will return 404 Error . Since this is the most faced situation How to customize 404 page error is a common question in everyone’s mind.
Why you get 404 Error code ?
It can be mainly because of any of these two given reasons like –
- When permalink structure of the site is changed .
- Visitor typed the URL wrongly.
- When websites move to a new web server & DNS is still pointing at the previous location.
Common Myth About 404 Error Code
Most of you would have heard that 404 error affects your site badly , this is a common word of SEO experts but Google claims 404 error does not affect your website ranking
Note – 404 error will not affect ranking of website according to Google , it can affect on your bouncing time as people will leave site and move to other when delay happens.
How to fix 404 Not Found Error code
Now will deal with how user can fix 404 error code and how website owners can fix 404 not found error code .
For Users
# Copy and paste then search URL in Google , it will show the exact URL
# Use Google cache – http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://abc.com/
Here in the link of abc.com paste the URL you are looking for.
# Clear your browser cache .
For Website owners
If you are finding that your own website is always having 404 error then there is a most used solution it is to do 301 redirecting for pages that are permanently removed & for temporarily unavailable pages do a 302 redirection.
408 Error Code – Request Time-Out
It is displayed when client request takes so much time then server gets time out and closes the connection without displaying the requested output .Heavy workload on server or client system can lead to frequent 408 Error code.
410 Error Code – Gone
It is also common error as 404 error. Generally 410 error code happens meaning that the requested file is not found by server. But only difference between 404 and 410 error code is that 404 error is indicating that the file requested is available somewhere while 410 error code is a permanent condition where server is not able to find the requested file anywhere.
5XX Error Codes – Server Errors
| 5XX ERRORS | |
| CODES | Reason |
| 500 | Internal server error |
| 502 | Bad Gateway |
| 503 | Service Temporarily unavailable |
| 504 | Gateway Time-Out |
500 Error Code – Internal server error
If the server encounters unexpected condition which hinders it on fulfilling client’s request . It is a common error encountered .
As a user what you can do at this situation is just restart you browser , clear cookies and browser cache or try reloading the page once more.
If you are the website owner who is stuck with error 500 page then you are advised to contact your hosting service provider.
502 Error Code – Bad Gateway
If you get 502 error code in your own website then contact your host service provider. Generally this error happens due to communication issues between 2 servers . How two servers can exchange details is affected as each others protocol is not in agreement with each other.
503 Error Code – Service Temporarily unavailable
It is just a temporary error situation that will be resolved so soon . It happens either because of server overload or scheduled maintenance of the server.
For website owners take care of this . Because 503 error code will affect you site rankings.
504 Error Code – Gateway Time-Out
Due to slow communication between two servers or when the higher level server is completely down this error can occur . This should be worked out only by background people not
So that is all about the most important basic guide of server . Soon we will come up with the list of best server and other server tutorials.
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