a property of the Web's Hypertext 'transport Protocol (HTTP) referring to the fact that every request made by a Web browser for a particular Web document opens a new connection on a Web server that is immediately closed after the document is returned. This means that the server cannot maintain state information about successive requests from the same browser.
Describes the mode in which the web operates. A browser makes a request for data, the server responds and the conversation is complete. The next time the browser makes a request, the server has no way of recognizing it as the same browser.
As related to servers, not involving the update of a server-side database based on a client request. As related to the handling of files, the content of the file is not modified or noticed. For Web servers, a stateless client request, which members of a Network Load Balancing cluster can process, is one that returns a static Web page to the client.