Siksha Sarovar

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HTTP Protocol and Web Architecture

Lesson 2 of 34 in the free Web Technologies notes on Siksha Sarovar, written by Rohit Jangra.

HTTP Protocol and Web Architecture

What is HTTP?

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the foundation of data communication on the Web. It is a request-response protocol where a client (browser) sends a request and a server sends back a response.

HTTPS is the secure version, using TLS/SSL encryption.

HTTP Request Structure

GET /index.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
Accept: text/html
Connection: keep-alive

Key Request Methods

MethodPurpose
GETRetrieve data
POSTSubmit data to server
PUTUpdate existing resource
DELETERemove a resource
HEADGet headers only
OPTIONSDescribe communication options

HTTP Response Structure

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Length: 1234

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>...

Common Status Codes

CodeMeaning
200OK
301Moved Permanently
404Not Found
500Internal Server Error
403Forbidden

Client-Server Architecture

The Web follows a client-server model:

  • Client: Browser that makes HTTP requests
  • Server: Web server (Apache, Nginx, IIS) that responds with HTML, JSON, files

Multi-tier Architecture

Browser (Client)
      ↕ HTTP
Web Server (Presentation Layer)
      ↕
Application Server (Business Logic)
      ↕
Database Server (Data Layer)

HTTP vs HTTPS

FeatureHTTPHTTPS
Port80443
EncryptionNoneTLS/SSL
SecurityVulnerableSecure
URL Prefixhttp://https://

HTTP/2 and HTTP/3

  • HTTP/2: multiplexing, header compression, server push
  • HTTP/3: uses QUIC protocol (UDP-based), faster connection setup
Key Takeaway: HTTP is the stateless request-response protocol powering the Web. Understanding methods and status codes is essential for web development and debugging.