Is URL a part of request size?

Question

Just wondering if URL, what can be very big (source), is counted as part of HTTP request size, since its values are send to server (specially with query string)?

Answer 1

Yes, the target of the request is part of the message sent to the server:

GET /hello.txt HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: text/plain

From the RFC 7230, which defines the message syntax and routing of the HTTP/1.1 protocol:

3.1.1. Request Line

A request-line begins with a method token, followed by a single space (SP), the request-target, another single space (SP), the protocol version, and ends with CRLF. [...]

HTTP does not place a predefined limit on the length of a request-line [...]

A server that receives a request-target longer than any URI it wishes to parse MUST respond with a 414 (URI Too Long) status code [...]

Various ad hoc limitations on request-line length are found in practice. It is RECOMMENDED that all HTTP senders and recipients support, at a minimum, request-line lengths of 8000 octets.