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Web server components

client-server architecture The Web runs as a client-server application. The clients are browser programs running on individual users' workstations and personal computers. These connect to Web server programs across the Internet or other network, using well-defined protocols.

A Web server is a relatively simple program that listens to incoming requests from a network interface and responds to them. These requests are defined by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Web servers will return documents and can also be configured to invoke external programs, referred to as gateways, to generate dynamic documents. There is a standard, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), that specifies the interface between information servers and gateways. Such programs are commonly referred to as CGI scripts, and are often used to build gateways to other information systems - both to networked systems, and to applications such as databases.

Spinning the Web by Andrew Ford
© 1995 International Thomson Publishing
© 2002 Andrew Ford and Ford & Mason Ltd
Note: this HTML document was generated in December 1994 directly from the LaTeX source files using LaTeX2HTML. It was formatted into our standard page layout using the Template Toolkit. The document is mainly of historical interest as obviously many of the sites mentioned have long since disappeared.