HTTP Overview

HTTP Overview

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol ( HTTP) is a protocol that applies to distributed, shared, hypermedia information systems. This has been the basis for World Wide Web (i.e. the internet) data exchange since 1990. HTTP is a generic and stateless protocol that can be used for other purposes and with modifications to its request methods, error codes and headers.

Basically, HTTP is a communication protocol based on TCP / IP which is used to distribute data on the World Wide Web (HTML files, image files, query results, etc .). The default port is TCP 80 but it can also use other ports. It gives the computers a consistent way to communicate with each other. The HTTP specification defines how to construct and send client request data to the server , and how the servers respond to these requests.

Basic Architecture

The HTTP protocol is a request / response protocol based on the client / server architecture in which web servers, robots, search engines, etc. function as HTTP clients, and the Web server acts as a server.

Client

A request will be sent to the server by the HTTP client in the form of a request process, URI, and protocol version, followed by a MIME-like message containing request modificators, client information, and possible body content over a TCP / IP connection.

Server

The HTTP server responds with a status line with the protocol version of the message and a success or error code, followed by a MIME-like message containing server information, meta information for the entity, and potential content for the entity-body.