The Path of a Request: A Tour of Modern Web Architecture A web page loads in under a second. In that second, a single user request may have passed through roughly ten distinct systems on its way to and from the database. The page feels fast because of how those systems are arranged. Each layer absorbs as much traffic as it can before passing the rest along. Taken together, the layers form a funnel, with most traffic handled long before it reaches the bottom. Understanding what each layer does...