When you type holbertonschool.com and press enter where the browser go?
Maybe you are thinking how it works your browser in to the other side of your screen PC?
We may overlook just how vastly information travels when we type in a web address on a computer and get taken right to the website for which we intended, seeks to dive in to the inner working of how the web traffic routes you from your web browser all the way to the website for which you typed. Maybe you’ll have a better understanding next time you type in www.holbertonschool.com in your browser.
DNS — Domain Name System
A DNS server is just vast database containing public IP addresses along with their domain names. Every domain name, i.e. google.com . is linked to a public IP address such as 45.32.145.874(not the actual IP). We have a DNS server to make accessing websites for UI-friendly and helps you to remember the name of the domain rather than its IP address.
One known method is DNS Caching. This method depends on finding this IP address linked to the associated website, and then once its found it is then cached for a limited time until someone else tries to find the same website. This way it does not have to be searched again through the database and makes accessing the website vastly quicker.
TCP/IP
Two protocols essential for delivering packets of information from the source to the destination is the IP, which is the foundation of network connections. The TCP is required to handle those packet ordering and checking for errors. They are needed to work together for someone to retrieve that information. The TCP makes sure you are not missing any information that the information has successfully made it to the sender.
Firewall
A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. You can implement a firewall in either hardware or software form, or a combination of both. Firewalls prevent unauthorized internet users from accessing private networks connected to the internet, especially intranets.
All messages entering or leaving the intranet (the local network to which you are connected) must pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
Some types of firewalls:
- Packet filtering: The system examines each packet entering or leaving the network and accepts or rejects it based on user-defined rules. Packet filtering is fairly effective and transparent to users, but it is difficult to configure. In addition, it is susceptible to IP spoofing.
- Circuit-level gateway implementation: This process applies security mechanisms when a TCP or UDP connection is established. Once the connection has been made, packets can flow between the hosts without further checking.
- Acting as a proxy server: A proxy server is a type of gateway that hides the true network address of the computer(s) connecting through it. A proxy server connects to the internet, makes the requests for pages, connections to servers, etc., and receives the data on behalf of the computer(s) behind it. The firewall capabilities lie in the fact that a proxy can be configured to allow only certain types of traffic to pass (for example, HTTP files, or web pages). A proxy server has the potential drawback of slowing network performance, since it has to actively analyze and manipulate traffic passing through it.
- Web application firewall: A web application firewall is a hardware appliance, server plug-in, or some other software filter that applies a set of rules to a HTTP conversation. Such rules are generally customized to the application so that many attacks can be identified and blocked.
HTTPS/SSL
SSL is an acronym for Secure Sockets Layer. A type of digital security that allows encrypted communication between a website and a web browser. The technology is currently deprecated and has been replaced entirely by TLS.
TLS stands for Transport Layer Security and it ensures data privacy the same way that SSL does. Since SSL is actually no longer used, this is the correct term that people should start using.
HTTPS is a secure extension of HTTP. Websites that install and configure an SSL/TLS certificate can use the HTTPS protocol to establish a secure connection with the server.
- The goal of SSL/TLS is to make it safe and secure to transmit sensitive information including personal data, payment or login information.
- It’s an alternative to plain text data transfer in which your connection to a server is unencrypted, and it makes it harder for crooks and hackers to snoop on the connection and steal your data.
- Most people are familiar with SSL/TLS certificates, which are used by webmasters to secure their websites and to provide a secure way for people to carry out transactions.
- You can tell when a website is using one because you’ll see a little padlock icon next to the URL in the address bar.
Load Balancer
Load balancing is essential in that it is the process of distributing network traffic across multiple servers. This ensures that no single server bears too much demand. By spreading the demand across multiple servers this insures that applications respond quickly and efficiently. It also increases the availability of apps and websites to users.
They are kind of like traffic directors or signals in that traffic is redirected to points where there is less traffic and helps to reduce congestion on one street. Some example of a load balancer algorithm would be round robin, least connections, and IP Hash. HaProxy is also a software that provides a load balancer.
Web Server
A web server could be a software or a hardware. Whenever you need to access a file from a web server an http request is sent to the web server that searches for the file and returns the web page with the proper protocol. The server side however, must first host or store the files in the web server. Having a web server is beneficial in that the files will always be running and be accessible to any users attempting to access it. The web server is responsible for storing static content.
Application Server
An application server is a software or program that stores all the application operations between the end users and the backend, aka the database. An app server, as opposed to a web server, can handle any type of protocol. They are known to server dynamic content that allows the user to interact with a page. These are essential in logging into bank accounts, user accounts, forms for any type of account.
Database
A database is an organized collection of structured information, or data, stored electronically in a computer system. It is usually controlled by a DBMS, or a database management system. Some examples of DMBS are MyOracle, SQL, MySQL, NoSQL, and Microsoft Azure. It’s necessary to form a database if you need to store public or private information such as typing in holbertonschool.com. Without the database, the application server wouldn’t be able to pull information in order to use in the website and hand over to the end user.
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