Editing 869: Server Attention Span
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The comic shows - in human language - part of the conversations that a browser and web server do in order to get the right page. The protocol they use is called {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol|HTTP}}. | The comic shows - in human language - part of the conversations that a browser and web server do in order to get the right page. The protocol they use is called {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol|HTTP}}. | ||
− | This comic makes fun of the | + | This comic makes fun of the issue that many webservers that see a mobile browser will automatically suggest to load the mobile version of the website, but then serve the front page of the mobile site, not the page the user had requested. In quite a few sites, there is no 1-to-1 correspondence of pages between the regular and the mobile site, so this problem is difficult to solve and very annoying. |
− | A second issue with HTTP is identified in the last | + | A second issue with HTTP is identified in the last pane. HTTP is a {{w|stateless protocol}}. After serving the web page, the connection is severed. Any new request for a page will have to start afresh - which is where the server starts with again: "Hi! I'm a server!" Of course, browsers do not have egos nor do they hold grudges but it can be annoying for users. This design issue can also slow down the browsing experience. |
− | The title text is a joke that all the other servers in the rack | + | The title text is a joke that all the other servers in the rack think the web server is being childish. <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt> is where Linux and other posix systems store their system log messages. The 'trying to start conversation' comment is probably a joke on {{w|Address Resolution Protocol|ARP}} discovery packets that are sent out to the network to see who is who. All servers send out ARP packets to see what other machines are on the network, but some machines send them out every 5 minutes, which can be extremely annoying for someone monitoring network traffic logs. |
− | The coffee comment is another jab at web servers. Some websites use {{w| | + | The coffee comment is another jab at web servers. Some websites use {{w|java}}, or other {{w|jvm}} based languages ({{w|Grails}}, {{w|Scala}}, and others) as the back end of the website, as opposed to using {{w|PHP}} or {{w|Active Server Pages|ASP}}. Of course, java is another word for coffee, so a web server running on coffee is likely to be well-caffeinated, and well-caffeinated people tend to bounce off the walls with enthusiasm. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Single | + | :[Single blade in a server rack.] |
:Server: Hi! I'm a server! Who are you? | :Server: Hi! I'm a server! Who are you? | ||