What is Server Administration?

Server Administration is advanced computer networking that includes server installation and configuration, server roles, storage, Active Directory and Group Policy, file, print, and web services, remote access, virtualization, application servers, troubleshooting, performance, and reliability. We thought it might be helpful to review the basics (particularly for aspiring web professionals).

What is a Web Server?

Web server is a computer where the web content is stored. Basically, a web server is used to host the web sites but there exists other web servers also such as gaming, storage, FTP, email etc.

How does the Web Server Work?

Web server respond to the client request in either of the following two ways:

• Sending the file to the client associated with the requested URL.
• Generating response by invoking a script and communicating with database
• When client sends request for a web page, the web server search for the requested page if requested page is found then it will send it to client with an HTTP response.
• If the requested web page is not found, web server will the send an HTTP response: Error 404 Not found.
• If client has requested for some other resources then the web server will contact to the application server and data store to construct the HTTP response.

Architecture

Web Server Architecture follows the following two approaches:

1. Concurrent Approach
2. Single-Process-Event-Driven Approach.

To read more about Web Servers visit this link.

Additional Resources

Apache is one of popular Web Servers. Here are few resources where we can learn about the Apache Server.

1. Tutorial by Lynda
2. Apache Server Admin
3. Apache Tutorials for Beginners
4. Apache Web Server Complete Guide

The question is ‘Do Web Professionals need to learn about Web Server Admin?’ The answer is ‘No’ but learning Web Server Administration can make an employee more useful to the employer, or more independent if you’re self-employed. Learning things related to your own work is always a useful thing. It certainly supports offering to clients or employers if you have a better understanding of how to get your code into a production environment for public consumption.

This week focuses more on Web Server Administration. We hope you find these resources and overviews useful. We always look forward to your comments and feedback (whether you are a member or not).

If you aspire to be a web professional and don’t know where to start, we offer a number of beginning classes to our members via our School Of Web learning management system. As a member, your first class is free.