Writing· System Design
How a Request Finds a Server
Type a web address, hit enter, and a page appears. Behind that is a small journey: your request must find one server out of millions, then get past the front door. Three things make it happen: DNS, a load balancer, and a gateway.
Day three of the System Design series, and the first building blocks. When someone uses your system, the very first thing that happens is their request finding a server. This walks the journey: DNS turns a name into an address, a load balancer spreads requests across servers, and a gateway is the shared front door for auth, rate limiting, and routing. Each explained with an everyday analogy first, a hand-drawn diagram, and its own interactive visualizer.