Photo by Arkan Perdana on Unsplash
Behind the Scenes of Google Search
A beginner's guide to exploring the Technical Wizardry that Happens When You Hit Enter!"
Google is the most used search engine, and not everyone knows what happens when you type a keyword in the search bar and then enter it to produce a series of search results.
In this article, we will talk about what happens when you type "https://www.google.com" into your browser and hit "Enter,".
DNS Request
DNS stands for Domain Name System. The DNS works quietly in the background, it converts human-readable website names into computer-readable numerical IP addresses.
DNS does this by looking up that information on a system of linked DNS servers across the Internet. When you type "https://www.google.com" in your browser, your computer sends a DNS request to a DNS server. The DNS server then translates the human-readable URL you entered (www.google.com) into an IP address that your computer will understand.
TCP/IP
TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, it is a series of protocols used by computers to communicate with each other on the Internet. When the DNS server returns the IP address of the server that hosts www.google.com, your computer creates a TCP/IP connection with that server.
Firewall
A Firewall is simply a security mechanism that keeps your computer safe from unauthorized access from the internet. It checks to make sure that the incoming traffic is safe. Before your computer can create a connection with the server hosting www.google.com, it must pass through a firewall.
HTTPS/SSL
HTTPS/SSL stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is a secure version of the HTTP protocol used to transfer data over the internet. After the firewall allows the connection, your computer then sends an HTTPS request to the server.
Load-balancer
After the HTTPS request is received, it is then directed to a load-balancer. The load balancer is a device that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no server is overloaded. It helps to prevent downtime, thus making the website always available to users.
Web server
The request after being handled by the load-balancer is then forwarded to a web server. The job of the web server is to handle the request and return the appropriate response to the client.
Application server
An application server is responsible for executing code on the server side that generates dynamic content. For example, if you search for something on Google, the application server would be responsible for executing the code that generates the search results.
Database
The database stores information such as user accounts, and other data used to generate dynamic content. When a request is made for data from the database, the application server communicates with the database to retrieve the information.