The Internet’s Backbone: How DNS, Web Servers, Firewalls, HTTPS, TCP/IP, Load Balancers, and Servers Work Together

DNS Request — Domain Name Server:

• When you want to access a website like “https://www.google.com," you typically start by typing the web address into your browser.
• At this point, your computer doesn’t know where “www.google.com" is located on the internet.
• It sends a request to a Domain Name Server (DNS) to find out. The DNS acts like an internet phone book, translating the human-friendly domain name “www.google.com" into a unique numerical identifier known as an IP (Internet Protocol) address.
• This IP address, like “172.217.164.68,” is assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and is used for devices and websites to communicate on the internet.
• While this process is essential for translating web addresses to IP addresses, it also plays a part in internet security. The DNS may include security mechanisms to protect against malicious activities and ensure that the translated IP addresses are legitimate.

Web Servers:

• Once your computer knows the IP address of “www.google.com," it connects to your network router, which is like a traffic cop for data on your local network.
• The router, in turn, connects to Google’s web server, where the website is hosted.
• The web server is responsible for storing and delivering the content for “www.google.com," including text, images, videos, and application data.
• When you requested “https://www.google.com," the web server retrieves the website’s information and sends it back to your computer.
• Importantly, every component in this process, including your computer, the router, and Google’s web server, has its own unique IP address. Without these IP addresses, the transfer of information wouldn’t be possible.

Firewalls:

• A firewall is like a security guard for your network. It’s a software or hardware device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic.
• Firewalls enforce security rules to allow or block data based on specific criteria, such as source, destination, port, and protocol.
• In this process, firewalls can play a critical role in ensuring that only safe and authorized data is allowed to pass through. They help protect your network from unauthorized access, malware, and various types of cyber threats.

HTTPS/SSL:

• “https://www.google.com" uses HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.
• While regular HTTP is the standard protocol for transferring web data, it lacks security measures. Data sent using HTTP can be intercepted during transmission.
• To address this security concern, HTTPS was introduced. It adds an extra layer of protection. HTTPS incorporates encryption, specifically SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security), to secure data while it’s in transit.
• This encryption ensures that data sent between your computer and Google’s web server is private and secure, making it much more difficult for anyone to intercept or tamper with the data. This level of security is crucial for protecting sensitive information, such as login details, personal data, and financial transactions.

TCP/IP:

• In the background of all these processes is TCP/IP, which stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
• TCP/IP is the foundation of internet communication, and it ensures that data is structured, transmitted, received, and interpreted consistently across devices and networks.
• It plays a critical role in connecting your computer to the DNS, web servers, and other components of the internet. It provides a set of rules and instructions that devices use to communicate effectively and reliably.

Load Balancers:

• High-traffic websites like Google often use load balancers. Load balancers are like traffic directors for incoming network traffic.
• They distribute incoming requests evenly across multiple web servers, ensuring that no single server gets overwhelmed with too many requests.
• Load balancers improve performance, provide redundancy in case one server fails, and help maintain a responsive and reliable online service.

Application Servers and Database Servers:

• Now, let’s consider the functionality beyond Google’s homepage.
• Google uses application servers that host applications and software to deliver its search engine service through specific communication protocols.
• These applications are responsible for processing your search queries and delivering search results.
• Additionally, Google employs database servers to store vast amounts of structured information and data, including web pages, images, and more.
• When you perform a search on Google, the application server sends requests to the database server to retrieve the necessary data, which includes relevant web pages and other information.
• Together, these two types of servers, application and database, work seamlessly to provide dynamic and data-driven online services like the Google search engine.