869: Server Attention Span
| Server Attention Span |
 Title text: They have to keep the adjacent rack units empty. Otherwise, half the entries in their /var/log/syslog are just 'SERVER BELOW TRYING TO START CONVERSATION *AGAIN*.' and 'WISH THEY'D STOP GIVING HIM SO MUCH COFFEE IT SPLATTERS EVERYWHERE.' |
Explanation
The comic shows - in human language - part of the conversations that a browser and web server do in order to get the right page. The protocol they use is called HTTP.
This comic makes fun of the issue that many webservers who see a mobile browser will automatically suggest to load the mobile version of the website, but then serve the front page of the mobile site, not the page the user had requested. In quite a few sites, there is no 1-to-1 correspondence of pages between the regular and the mobile site, yet this habit is annoying.
A second issue with the HTTP protocol is identified in the last pane. The HTTP protocol is stateless. After serving the web page, the connection is severed. Any new request for a page will have to start afresh - which is where the server starts with again: "Hi! I'm a server!". Of course, browsers don't have egos nor do they hold grudges, so in reality, this is not a problem. For users, it can be annoying, though. It also slows down the browsing experience.
Unfortunately, I don't know what to make of the title text.
Transcript
[single blade in a server rack]
- Server: Hi! I'm a server! Who are you?
[mobile device with a web browser]
- Browser: I'm a browser. I'd like to see this article.
- Server:Oh boy! I can help! Let me get it for- ..whoa! You're a *smartphone* browser?
- Browser: Yeah.
- Server: Cooool! Hey, I've got this new mobile version of my site! Check it out! Isn't it pretty?
- Browser: Sure, but this is just your mobile site's main page. Where's the article I wanted?
- Server: What article?
- Browser: The one I-
- Server: Who are you?
- Browser: I-
- Server: Hi! I'm a server!
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Note that REAL HTTP/1.0 conversation is started by browser: First browser say everything, then server responds and close the connection. HTTP/1.1 conversation allows the browser to make another query in the same connection, but that's only to avoid the work on reopening connection, server is supposed to interpret this new query in same way as if it would be new connection. -- Hkmaly (talk) 09:15, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
Yes, proper HTTP implementations are stateless. 108.162.246.117 19:55, 18 January 2014 (UTC)
It seems that the server is vertical at the start, but horizontal in the following panels. 141.101.98.162 22:28, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
- No, the server is horizontal, in the middle of a vertical rack. 108.162.221.149 19:00, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
