Journey Through the Web

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What Happens When You Type https://www.google.com and Press Enter

Introduction

When you type "https://www.google.com" into your browser and hit Enter, you initiate a complex series of events that enable you to access the web seamlessly. In this blog post, we'll take a journey through the layers of technology involved in making this happen.

1. DNS Request: The process begins with a Domain Name System (DNS) request. The URL "www.google.com" is a human-readable address, but computers communicate using IP addresses. The DNS translates the domain name into an IP address, allowing your browser to locate the server.

1. TCP/IP: Once the IP address is obtained, a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection is established. TCP/IP is the backbone of internet communication, ensuring reliable data transmission between your computer and the server.

1. Firewall: Before the data is sent or received, it passes through a firewall—a security barrier that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic. The firewall ensures that only authorized and secure connections are established.

1. HTTPS/SSL: The 'https' in the URL stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. This indicates that the communication between your browser and the server is encrypted. The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or its successor, Transport Layer Security (TLS), provides this encryption, safeguarding your data from potential eavesdroppers.

1. Load-Balancer: Large websites like Google often use load balancers to distribute incoming web traffic across multiple servers. This ensures efficient resource utilization, prevents server overload, and improves the overall performance and reliability of the website.

1. Web Server: Upon reaching the web server, the request is processed. The web server handles tasks such as retrieving web pages, running applications, and processing user requests. Google, in this case, uses powerful and scalable web servers to handle the vast amount of requests it receives daily.

1. Application Server: For dynamic content, such as search results, an application server comes into play. It processes business logic and interacts with databases to generate personalized and real-time responses. This step is crucial for the functionality of complex websites like Google.

1. Database: The final step involves retrieving data from a database. In Google's case, the search results are fetched from a massive database that indexes and organizes information from across the web. The database holds the key to delivering relevant and accurate results to your search query.

Conclusion:?

The seemingly simple act of typing a URL and pressing Enter triggers a sophisticated sequence of events involving DNS, TCP/IP, firewalls, encryption, load balancing, web servers, application servers, and databases. Understanding this journey sheds light on the intricate infrastructure that enables the seamless experience from the world wide web.