If you want to learn a little bit more about the communication between a web browser and an HTTP server, why not build your own web server and take a closer look.
The tools and strategies you use to back up files that are not being accessed won't work when you copy data that is currently in use by a busy application. This article explains the danger of employing common Linux utilities to back up living data and examines some alternatives.
If your school's computer lab consists of Linux machines, Epoptes provides an interesting alternative to conventional management and monitoring programs.