English
:rfc:`1945` and :rfc:`2616` define headers that are specific to HTTP responses. These server headers include:
the `Server:` header indicates the version of the web server that has generated the HTTP response. Some servers provide information about their software release and optional modules that they use. For security reasons, some system administrators disable these headers to avoid revealing too much information about their server to potential attackers.
the `Date:` header indicates when the HTTP response has been produced by the server.
the `Last-Modified:` header indicates the date and time of the last modification of the document attached to the HTTP response.
Similarly, the following header lines can only appear inside HTTP requests sent by a client:
the `User-Agent:` header provides information about the client that has generated the HTTP request. Some servers analyze this header line and return different headers and sometimes different documents for different user agents.
the `If-Modified-Since:` header is followed by a date. It enables clients to cache in memory or on disk recent or most frequently used documents. When a client needs to request a URI from a server, it first checks whether the document is already in its cache. If it is, the client sends an HTTP request with the `If-Modified-Since:` header indicating the date of the cached document. The server will only return the document attached to the HTTP response if it is newer than the version stored in the client's cache.
the `Referrer:` header is followed by a URI. It indicates the URI of the document that the client visited before sending this HTTP request. Thanks to this header, the server can know the URI of the document containing the hyperlink followed by the client, if any. This information is very useful to measure the impact of advertisements containing hyperlinks placed on websites.
the `Host:` header contains the fully qualified domain name of the URI being requested.
The importance of the `Host:` header line
The first version of HTTP did not include the `Host:` header line. This was a severe limitation for web hosting companies. For example consider a web hosting company that wants to serve both `web.example.com` and `www.example.net` on the same physical server. Both web sites contain a `/index.html` document. When a client sends a request for either `http://web.example.com/index.html` or `http://www.example.net/index.html`, the HTTP 1.0 request contains the following line :
By parsing this line, a server cannot determine which `index.html` file is requested. Thanks to the `Host:` header line, the server knows whether the request is for `http://web.example.com/index.html` or `http://www.dummy.net/index.html`. Without the `Host:` header, this is impossible. The `Host:` header line allowed web hosting companies to develop their business by supporting a large number of independent web servers on the same physical server.
The status line of the HTTP response begins with the version of HTTP used by the server (usually `HTTP/1.0` defined in :rfc:`1945` or `HTTP/1.1` defined in :rfc:`2616`) followed by a three digit status code and additional information in English. HTTP status codes have a similar structure as the reply codes used by SMTP:
All status codes starting with digit `2` indicate a valid response. `200 Ok` indicates that the HTTP request was successfully processed by the server and that the response is valid.
All status codes starting with digit `3` indicate that the requested document is no longer available on the server. `301 Moved Permanently` indicates that the requested document is no longer available on this server. A `Location:` header containing the new URI of the requested document is inserted in the HTTP response. `304 Not Modified` is used in response to an HTTP request containing the `If-Modified-Since:` header. This status line is used by the server if the document stored on the server is not more recent than the date indicated in the `If-Modified-Since:` header.
All status codes starting with digit `4` indicate that the server has detected an error in the HTTP request sent by the client. `400 Bad Request` indicates a syntax error in the HTTP request. `404 Not Found` indicates that the requested document does not exist on the server.
All status codes starting with digit `5` indicate an error on the server. `500 Internal Server Error` indicates that the server could not process the request due to an error on the server itself.
In both HTTP requests and responses, the MIME document refers to a representation of the document with the MIME headers indicating the type of document and its size.
As an illustration of HTTP/1.0, the transcript below shows a HTTP request for `http://www.ietf.org <http://www.ietf.org>`_ and the corresponding HTTP response. The HTTP request was sent using the curl_ command line tool. The `User-Agent:` header line contains more information about this client software. There is no MIME document attached to this HTTP request, and it ends with a blank line.
The HTTP response indicates the version of the server software used with the modules included. The `Last-Modified:` header indicates that the requested document was modified about one week before the request. A HTML document (not shown) is attached to the response. Note the blank line between the header of the HTTP response and the attached MIME document. The `Server:` header line has been truncated in this output.