Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Apache HTTP Server vs OpenResty: What are the differences?
Key Differences between Apache HTTP Server and OpenResty
Apache HTTP Server and OpenResty are both popular web server software, but they have some key differences that set them apart.
Architecture: Apache HTTP Server follows a traditional multi-process, multi-threaded architecture, where each request is handled by a separate thread or process. On the other hand, OpenResty is based on the Nginx web server, which follows an event-driven, asynchronous architecture using a single-threaded event loop.
Extensions: Apache HTTP Server has a large number of modules and extensions available, which allows for more flexibility and customization. OpenResty, on the other hand, uses Lua as an embedded scripting language to extend its functionality. This allows developers to write custom logic directly in the configuration files, making it more suitable for certain use cases.
Performance: OpenResty is known for its high performance and scalability due to its event-driven architecture. It can handle a large number of concurrent connections with low resource usage, making it suitable for high-traffic websites. Apache HTTP Server, while still performant, may not be as efficient in handling large traffic loads.
Caching: Apache HTTP Server has built-in support for caching static content and can also be configured to work with popular caching solutions like Varnish. OpenResty, on the other hand, has its own caching mechanism called "luashareddict," which allows developers to cache dynamic content efficiently.
SSL/TLS: Apache HTTP Server has extensive support for SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) protocols, including various encryption algorithms and features like client certificate authentication. OpenResty also supports SSL/TLS but may require additional configuration and customization.
Community and Ecosystem: Apache HTTP Server has a large and active community with a wide range of resources and documentation available. It also has a rich ecosystem of third-party modules and tools. OpenResty's community, while not as large as Apache's, is growing rapidly, and it also has a growing ecosystem of Lua modules and tools.
In Summary, Apache HTTP Server and OpenResty have different architectures, extensions, performance characteristics, caching mechanisms, SSL/TLS capabilities, and community/ecosystem support. These differences make them suitable for different use cases and scenarios.
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
- 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.
What is OpenResty?
Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions
Blog Posts
+17
+26+26