Web Servers and Application Delivery: Architecture Essentials
Web Servers and Application Delivery: Architecture Essentials In modern web delivery, the path from a user to an app is shaped by architecture. A good design combines web servers, load balancing, and delivery controls so traffic is fast, reliable, and secure. This guide outlines essential building blocks and practical patterns you can adapt. Core components: Web servers host content and run app logic. Load balancers spread requests across healthy servers. Reverse proxies handle TLS, caching, and request shaping. Application delivery controllers add health checks and rate limits. CDNs place content near users and reduce origin load. Caching and compression speed responses. Traffic flow can be simple or layered. A client requests a page. The front door selects a healthy server, TLS is terminated at the edge or the origin, the app processes the work, and the response travels back, possibly through a CDN or a cache to speed up repeat visits. ...