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Web architecture and web-tier components

Short answer

Web architecture is the structure and communication of components such as browsers, servers, and databases over HTTP. Multi-tier architecture includes client, web, application, and data tiers, giving scalability, maintainability, security, and reliability.

Define web architecture with its importance. Explain the components of web-tier architecture.

Web architecture

Web architecture is the overall structure of a web system: its components (browsers, web servers, application servers, databases), how they are arranged, and how they communicate using protocols such as HTTP. It describes how requests flow and how the work is divided.

Importance

  • Scalability: Components can be added or replicated independently as users grow.
  • Maintainability: Separation of concerns makes code easier to change and test.
  • Performance: Caching, load balancing and distribution of work reduce delay.
  • Security: Sensitive data stays on inner tiers behind firewalls.
  • Reusability and interoperability: Standard protocols allow different systems to work together.
  • Reliability: Failure of one component can be isolated or handled by redundancy.

Components of web-tier (multi-tier) architecture

+----------------+   +-------------+   +--------------+
| Client tier    |-->| Web tier    |-->| Application  |
| Browser (HTML, |   | Web server  |   | / business   |
| CSS, JS)       |   | (Apache)    |   | tier (PHP,   |
+----------------+   +-------------+   | Java, .NET)  |
                                       +------+-------+
                                              |
                                       +------v-------+
                                       | Data tier    |
                                       | Database     |
                                       +--------------+
  1. Client (presentation) tier: The browser displays pages and runs client-side scripts. It sends requests and shows results.
  2. Web tier: The web server (Apache, Nginx, IIS) accepts HTTP requests, serves static files, handles sessions, SSL and forwards dynamic requests to the application tier.
  3. Application (business logic) tier: Executes server-side code (PHP, Servlets/JSP, ASP.NET, Node.js) that applies business rules, authentication and processing, and builds dynamic pages.
  4. Data tier: Database servers (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle) store and retrieve persistent data.

Supporting parts: proxy servers, load balancers, firewalls and caches placed between the tiers.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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