Web Server and Application Server

[dmjpro]

What's the difference between Web Server and Application Server.
I had an idea that Web Server only able to serve the static pages and Application Server able to serve dynamic pages. One more thing suppose i am using J2ee framework. So when a HTTP request comes to a j2ee server then how Web Server and Application server come into the play?

[r035198x]

Your ideas are incorrect. do a google search for those terms to find out the real difference.

[dmjpro]

Your ideas are incorrect. do a google search for those terms to find out the real difference.

I searched and went through a link but i could not get the idea ..that's why i asked here ;)

well, i posted some lines on it ..

Taking a big step back, a Web server serves pages for viewing in a Web browser, while an application server provides methods that client applications can call

Here client applications, what does it mean?

[JosAH]

That paragraph is from a Javaworld article; also read this wiki page.

kind regards,

Jos

[dmjpro]

Well.....

The Web server doesn't provide any functionality beyond simply providing an environment in which the server-side program can execute and pass back the generated responses

So Web server provides an environment where the server side program executes.
To run the server side program, that's where the application server comes into.

One more thing, web container is the part of Web Server and the EJB container(for J2EE only) is the part of Application Server?

[JosAH]

\One more thing, web container is the part of Web Server and the EJB container(for J2EE only) is the part of Application Server?

Yes; the web server (the servlet container) is more or a less a view while the application server is the controller; the backend makes up the model; together they implement an MVC pattern.

kind regards,

Jos

[dmjpro]

I searched and went through a link but i could not get the idea ..that's why i asked here ;)

well, i posted some lines on it ..

Taking a big step back, a Web server serves pages for viewing in a Web browser, while an application server provides methods that client applications can call

Here client applications, what does it mean?

Still i am not clear with the client applications. Please help me to understand this.

[JosAH]

Still i am not clear with the client applications. Please help me to understand this.

The way I read that paragraph is: if you write code that uses an application server and/or a web servlet container then your code makes up a client application. It's an obscure definition.

kind regards,

Jos

[itsraghz]

simply, a program which is in need of something (resource/data) and able enough to contact/approach a server program that serves the data is called a Client. An application being developed for the same is called as Client Application.