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Apache HTTP Server vs Apache Tomcat vs Jetty: What are the differences?
Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, and Jetty are popular web servers and servlet containers used in web development. When choosing between them, it's essential to understand their key differences to make an informed decision.
1. **Architecture**: Apache HTTP Server is a web server designed for handling HTTP requests, while Apache Tomcat and Jetty are servlet containers that support Java servlets and JSP pages. Apache Tomcat and Jetty can also be configured to function as a web server, but their primary focus is on serving Java-based web applications.
2. **Use Case**: Apache HTTP Server is typically used for static content and PHP applications, while Apache Tomcat and Jetty are better suited for dynamic Java web applications that require servlets and JSP support.
3. **Configuration**: Apache HTTP Server uses configuration files like httpd.conf, while Apache Tomcat and Jetty utilize web.xml and context.xml files for configuring servlets, JSP files, and web applications.
4. **Scalability**: Apache HTTP Server can be easily scaled horizontally by adding more servers behind a load balancer, while Apache Tomcat and Jetty can be scaled vertically by increasing the available resources on a single server.
5. **Performance**: Apache HTTP Server is known for its high performance and efficiency in serving static content, while Apache Tomcat and Jetty excel in executing dynamic Java-based web applications efficiently.
6. **Community and Support**: Apache HTTP Server has a larger user base and a more extensive library of modules and plugins, while Apache Tomcat and Jetty have dedicated communities that focus on Java web development and provide support specific to servlet containers.
In Summary, understanding the differences between Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, and Jetty is crucial for choosing the right web server or servlet container for your specific web development needs.
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 Apache HTTP Server
- Web server479
- Most widely-used web server305
- Virtual hosting217
- Fast148
- Ssl support138
- Since 199644
- Asynchronous28
- Robust5
- Proven over many years4
- Mature2
- Perfomance2
- Perfect Support1
- Many available modules0
- Many available modules0
Pros of Jetty
- Lightweight15
- Embeddable10
- Very fast10
- Very thin6
- Scalable6
Pros of Apache Tomcat
- Easy79
- Java72
- Popular49
- Spring web1
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Cons of Apache HTTP Server
- Hard to set up4
Cons of Jetty
- Student0
Cons of Apache Tomcat
- Blocking - each http request block a thread3
- Easy to set up2
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