A web server is a computer that stores and delivers websites to users over the internet. When you type a website's address into your web browser and hit enter, your computer sends a request to the web server hosting the website. The web server then responds by sending the website's content back to your computer, which your web browser displays for you to view.
Web servers are important because they allow us to access and view websites from anywhere in the world. Without web servers, we would have to store and access websites locally on our computers, which would be inconvenient and impractical.
There are several types of web servers, including Apache, Nginx, and Microsoft IIS. Each type of web server has its own set of features and capabilities and is designed to work with different operating systems and programming languages.