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16. SERVERS

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The next few days will be somewhat technical: we'll talk about SERVERs, PATHNAMES, and URLs. Continue working on your homepage: pretty soon, you'll be making it available to the world!

When you "surf the web," there's a computer, behind the scenes, "serving up" your requests. This computer is referred to as the SERVER. When you request a particular document (say, by clicking on a hyperlink), your browser asks your SERVER to get it for you. When you want to make your own HTML documents available to the world, you must "upload" them; it's the SERVER's job to do this, too. Today's lesson gives a brief introduction to SERVERs.

INDEX CARD #16:

SERVERS and more (16a)

What are SOFTWARE and HARDWARE? "Software" is anything that can be stored electronically, like computer instructions or data.
"Hardware" refers to the physical storage devices and display devices, like disks, monitors, keyboards, and printers.
You can actually touch hardware, but you can't touch software.
The distinction between software and hardware is sometimes confusing because they are so closely related. When you purchase a program at a store, you are buying software. But to buy the software, you need to buy the disk (hardware).
What are SERVERs and CLIENTs? A SERVER is a (remote) computer running software that enables it to manage resources (like retrieving and storing files). A "CLIENT" is a program (on your own computer) that requests and displays the documents from the server. (A browser is a typical client.) A SERVER usually has many CLIENTs. Web browsers and servers communicate via the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
What is a "protocol"? A protocol is an agreed-upon format for transmitting data between two devices.

UPLOADING DOCUMENTS and more (16b)

What is UNIX? UNIX (pronounced "you-nix") is a popular multi-user, multi-tasking operating system developed at Bell Labs in the early 1970s. The majority of web servers run on the UNIX platform. Some popular servers include the NCSA Server, Apache, CERN, Netscape Servers, and Internet Information Servers (IIS).

What do "UPLOAD" and "DOWNLOAD" mean? To "upload" means to copy a file from your own computer to another computer. To "download" means to copy a file from another computer to your own computer.

What is one of the most common transactions that you'll have with your web server? ...the uploading of HTML documents, graphics, and other media files (movies, audio, etc.). Files are transferred between computers using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). You'll probably need an account to be able to upload files to the server; when you set up an account, you'll get an account name and a password. (More on uploading files in a future lesson.)

Printable version of Index Card 16a

Printable version of Index Card 16b

WORKSHEET #16:

(W16.1) There is an excellent online technical dictionary located at: http://www.pcwebopaedia.com/ Go to this site, type "software" in the "SEARCH by keyword" box, and read the results. Do the same for "hardware," "server," "client," "HTTP," "protocol," "Unix," "platform," "upload," "download," and "FTP."
You may want to bookmark this site as an excellent source of information on technical terms.
(W16.2) Ask your local computer guru the following questions:
- What is our server software? Does it run on the UNIX platform?
- How can I open up an account, so that I can upload documents? (Do it.)
- What is the procedure for uploading documents? (Take notes.)
(W16.3) Please continue with the tutorial located at: http://www.cwru.edu/help/interHTML/toc.html (link is no longer valid) Read Chapter 2 (EVEN MORE STYLE TAGS) and do all the exercises at the end of Chapter 2. This material is not related to today's lesson, but merely continues your progress with the online tutorial. Most of this is review; you'll also get an introduction to the <PRE> tag.

ASSIGNMENT #16:

(A16.1) Read pages 47–51 (from "A Beginner's Guide to the Server" up to "Directory Structures") in the Weasel Book. Read everything, but focus particular attention on the material covered on this index card.