Webdesign 101
Some simple things it took too long to learn
This is the first in what could very well become a series of duh- moments in article form. Every so often I learn something insanely logical and go. OH YEAH. That makes sense :(
So if you're like me and get confused from time to time, or a uberleet haxxor dude who likes to laugh at noobs, you might enjoy reading these next few bits.
Here's the first:
A server is just a computer
Obvious? You'd think so. Still, it answers questions like: 'can a server run this program' or 'how does the directory structure on my web page work'. The name 'server' refers to any computer running a program set up to send web pages to anyone who asks for it. It refers to a function rather than a machine. Just like a 'baker' is human too (todo: insert joke for people who don't like bakers).
Of course because big servers are switched on 24 hours a day 7 days a week and deal with massive amounts of requests they tend to be big clumpy and/or shiny things in 19 inch racks in dusty rooms with tiny lights and lots cables and no screen whatsoever. But this is a result of their function, in the exact same sense that being a big fat japanese guy is a result of being a sumo wrestler.
A second point closely associated with this is that of ports. A web server, apparently, is typically available on port 80
. Ports can be opened, closed or protected by a firewall. Bittorrent and the likes often use ports like 6881 so apprently you have quite a lot of them.
A port though, is a software thing and so the number of ports isn't limited by the size of your pc case. Basically, it's just a number that gets attached to every message to tell your computer which program to send it too
Jul 17th, 2008
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