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THE INTERNET MACHINE
The Internet
MachineModule
04/04

THE CONNECTED PLANET

04WEBSITE ONLINE

How does a website travel from one computer to the whole world?

MODULE 04/04 · THE CONNECTED PLANET

How does a website travel from one computer to the whole world?

WEBSITE ONLINE

A website finished on your computer can still be seen by only one person: you. This book sends it on a journey through domains, DNS, servers and undersea cables until it reaches screens all over the world.

When you finish, you’ll understand

  • How hosting, domains and DNS differ
  • How data crosses the world in small pieces
  • What the HTTPS padlock protects us from
  • How a website serves huge numbers of people at once

The world of this book

A world of networks, servers, planets and connections

Who it’s for

The final book, where everything connects

Checking your access

Contents

7 chapters

  1. 01From my machine to the whole world“Why does a site that opens on my computer fail to open for my friend?”Press publish on a pretend website and watch seven pieces — hosting, domain, DNS, browser, server, HTTPS and CDN — connect one by one until people in many countries can reach it.Lab 04: Publish to the worldFree · 17 min
  2. 02Every machine has an address“You type a website’s name — how does your computer find the machine at the other end?”IP addresses and the journey of a DNS question, from your device all the way to the root servers.Checking your access
  3. 03Data travels in pieces“How does a single photo cross an ocean?”Packets, TCP/IP and latency — why distance affects how fast a website feels.Checking your access
  4. 04The padlock by the address“What does the padlock in the address bar protect us from — and what doesn’t it?”HTTPS, TLS and certificates — the encryption that stops anyone in the middle from reading our data.Checking your access
  5. 05Where websites live“Where does a website really “live”?”Servers, data centers, the cloud and serverless — the options for finding a website a home.Checking your access
  6. 06When the whole world shows up at once“Why do concert-ticket sites crash so often?”CDNs, caches, load balancers and scaling — how systems cope with enormous numbers of users.Checking your access
  7. 07Updating a site without breaking it“How do big websites change every day without us even noticing?”Deploys, CI/CD and rollbacks — the process for shipping something new safely.Checking your access

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