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Apache Tomcat vs lighttpd vs nginx: What are the differences?
Introduction
When it comes to web servers, Apache Tomcat, lighttpd, and nginx are popular choices, each with its own strengths and features. Understanding the key differences between these servers can help in choosing the right fit for a particular web application or project.
Protocol Support: Apache Tomcat primarily supports the Java Servlet API and JSP technology, making it a popular choice for Java-based web applications. In contrast, lighttpd and nginx support a wider range of protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, FastCGI, SCGI, and WebSockets, making them versatile options for different types of websites and services.
Resource Usage: Compared to Apache Tomcat, lighttpd and nginx are known for their efficient resource usage and low memory footprint. This makes them ideal for high-traffic websites and applications that require optimal performance and scalability. On the other hand, Apache Tomcat may consume more memory and resources, especially when handling a large number of concurrent connections.
Configuration Complexity: Apache Tomcat is often criticized for its complex configuration, which can be challenging for beginners or those unfamiliar with Java web applications. In contrast, lighttpd and nginx are known for their simple and user-friendly configuration syntax, making it easier to set up and customize web servers quickly and efficiently.
Modules and Extensions: lighttpd and nginx have a wide range of modules and extensions available, allowing users to extend the functionality of the web server based on their specific requirements. In comparison, Apache Tomcat has a more limited set of extensions and may require additional customization to achieve similar levels of functionality.
Performance and Speed: Both lighttpd and nginx are renowned for their high-performance and speed, thanks to their event-driven architecture and efficient handling of concurrent connections. This makes them popular choices for serving static content and handling a large number of requests simultaneously. While Apache Tomcat can also deliver good performance, it may not be as fast and efficient as lighttpd and nginx in certain scenarios.
Summary
In summary, Apache Tomcat, lighttpd, and nginx differ in terms of protocol support, resource usage, configuration complexity, modules and extensions availability, and performance and speed, making each server better suited for specific use cases and environments.
I am diving into web development, both front and back end. I feel comfortable with administration, scripting and moderate coding in bash, Python and C++, but I am also a Windows fan (i love inner conflict). What are the votes on web servers? IIS is expensive and restrictive (has Windows adoption of open source changed this?) Apache has the history but seems to be at the root of most of my Infosec issues, and I know nothing about nginx (is it too new to rely on?). And no, I don't know what I want to do on the web explicitly, but hosting and data storage (both cloud and tape) are possibilities. Ready, aim fire!
I would pick nginx over both IIS and Apace HTTP Server any day. Combine it with docker, and as you grow maybe even traefik, and you'll have a really flexible solution for serving http content where you can take sites and projects up and down without effort, easily move it between systems and dont have to handle any dependencies on your actual local machine.
From a StackShare Community member: "We are a LAMP shop currently focused on improving web performance for our customers. We have made many front-end optimizations and now we are considering replacing Apache with nginx. I was wondering if others saw a noticeable performance gain or any other benefits by switching."
I use nginx because it is very light weight. Where Apache tries to include everything in the web server, nginx opts to have external programs/facilities take care of that so the web server can focus on efficiently serving web pages. While this can seem inefficient, it limits the number of new bugs found in the web server, which is the element that faces the client most directly.
I use nginx because its more flexible and easy to configure
I use Apache HTTP Server because it's intuitive, comprehensive, well-documented, and just works
For us, NGINX is a lite HTTP server easy to configure. On our research, we found a well-documented software we a lot of support from the community.
We have been using it alongside tools like certbot and it has been a total success.
We can easily configure our sites and have a folder for available vs enabled sites, and with the nginx -t command we can easily check everything is running fine.
- Server rendered HTML output from PHP is being migrated to the client as Vue.js components, future plans to provide additional content, and other new miscellaneous features all result in a substantial increase of static files needing to be served from the server. NGINX has better performance than Apache for serving static content.
- The change to NGINX will require switching from PHP to PHP-FPM resulting in a distributed architecture with a higher complexity configuration, but this is outweighed by PHP-FPM being faster than PHP for processing requests.
- The NGINX + PHP-FPM setup now allows for horizontally scaling of resources rather vertically scaling the previously combined Apache + PHP resources.
- PHP shell tasks can now efficiently be decoupled from the application reducing main application footprint and allow for scaling of tasks on an individual basis.
I was in a situation where I have to configure 40 RHEL servers 20 each for Apache HTTP Server and Tomcat server. My task was to 1. configure LVM with required logical volumes, format and mount for HTTP and Tomcat servers accordingly. 2. Install apache and tomcat. 3. Generate and apply selfsigned certs to http server. 4. Modify default ports on Tomcat to different ports. 5. Create users on RHEL for application support team. 6. other administrative tasks like, start, stop and restart HTTP and Tomcat services.
I have utilized the power of ansible for all these tasks, which made it easy and manageable.
Pros of lighttpd
- Lightweight7
- Easy setup6
- Virtal hosting2
- Simplicity2
- Full featured2
- Proxy2
- Open source2
- Available modules1
- Fast1
- Security1
- Ssl support1
Pros of NGINX
- High-performance http server1.4K
- Performance894
- Easy to configure730
- Open source607
- Load balancer530
- Free289
- Scalability288
- Web server226
- Simplicity175
- Easy setup136
- Content caching30
- Web Accelerator21
- Capability15
- Fast14
- High-latency12
- Predictability12
- Reverse Proxy8
- The best of them7
- Supports http/27
- Great Community5
- Lots of Modules5
- Enterprise version5
- High perfomance proxy server4
- Embedded Lua scripting3
- Streaming media delivery3
- Streaming media3
- Reversy Proxy3
- Blash2
- GRPC-Web2
- Lightweight2
- Fast and easy to set up2
- Slim2
- saltstack2
- Virtual hosting1
- Narrow focus. Easy to configure. Fast1
- Along with Redis Cache its the Most superior1
- Ingress controller1
Pros of Apache Tomcat
- Easy79
- Java72
- Popular49
- Spring web1
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Cons of lighttpd
Cons of NGINX
- Advanced features require subscription10
Cons of Apache Tomcat
- Blocking - each http request block a thread3
- Easy to set up2
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