what an application server is?

[Pizza_for_2]

Hi

Would you explain to me what an application server is and what is his role?

Greetings

[txbakers]

Hi and welcome to the Webmaster World forums!

BASICALLY: an application server is a web server with the ability to create dynamic content.

A web server will render HTML pages back to the browser.
An application server can read scripts such as PHP, ASP, JSP, CFM, and execute code blocks in a variety of High Level Languages, and produce the resulting HTML which gets sent through the web server.

Hope that gets you started.

[Pizza_for_2]

Thanks txbakers

It is a good point to start.

The application server read and executes the scripts.

Does that mean that the application server is the next step after interpreting the script by the mod_php or mod_perl or the cgi?

[txbakers]

exactly.

[Pizza_for_2]

Thanks for the quick answer.

I have a definition describe the CGI as a system that allows the web server to compile and run scripts written using Perl, C, sometimes PHP and other languages.

And another definition describe the mod_php as a software that allows the web server to interpreter the php codes.

So if we can interpreter and compile and run the codes inside the web server why do we need the application server?

[txbakers]

sometimes the web server is also an application server.

Some application servers are more robust than simple Perl or php scripts. Take something like BEA Weblogic or Websphere. You can run very sophisticated Java spplications through it.

[Pizza_for_2]

Does that mean that the web server communicates with the simple scripts and the application server communicates with the more complicated scripts?
I try to understand the concept but sometimes these definitions make me confuse.

[txbakers]

This should help you:

[google.com...]