Q9 HTTP Request Transfer Process

Question 1

Describe how an HTTP request from a web browser is transferred to a remote web server via the Internet.
You should make reference to the following terms in your answer: socket, OS kernel, TCP segment, IP packet, Ethernet frame, Network Interface Card (NIC), Direct Memory Access (DMA), and interrupt.

Answer 1

When a user sends an http request from a browser the browser passes the request to the os using a socket, the os kernel hanles the socket and breaks the request into tcp segments and encapsulates them in ip packets which it then wraps in ethernet frames for transmission. The Network Interface Card, uses Direct Memory Access to transfer these frames from main memory directly to the NIC without burning the cpu. once ready the NIC sends the frames over the network at the remote server, the servers nic recieves the frame and again uses dma to transfer it to main memory. it then sends an interrupt to the cpu to signal that the new data has arrived. The os kernel on the server processes the packet, reassembles the tccp stream and passes the http request to the web server application for handling