Question: How to do gfycat-like URLs?

This isn't my particular use-case, but as an example:

Suppose you build a CMS that pulls articles from a database. You want to assign a random unique URL for every article when it is created. I guess you can store the URL ending in the database.

My question is threefold:

1.) How do you parse any incoming URL and load the correct article? General "how does a CMS use URLs" question I guess.

2.) How do you differentiate these created URLs from a normal url. Suppose I want to create a page like www.abc.com/about, do I need an exception to the "parsing" for every non generated page on the site?

3.) The randomness. I am guessing that it's using a hash? How it this handled so there are no duplicates?

Sorry I tried google, but I guess I don't know the proper search terms to find a solution or more info to this one.

Thanks

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