Question

What happens from the point an HTTP request is received on a TCP/IP port up until the Page fires the On_Load event?

Answer 1

The below link should give you detailed explanation about the asp.net application life cycle process.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178473.aspx

Brifely to say.

1. Request is received by the server, the server determines the ISAPI extension to handle the request based on filename extension.
2. In case this is first request, it will create an app domain for maintaining isolation with this and other applications running.
3. then it creates hosting environment which will also create the objects like HttpContext, HttpRequest and HttpResponse.
4. After this the HTTPApplication object is created .
5. Afterwards the events in the global.asax which is the class inherited from the HTTPApplication object fires in the order defined in the link above.