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Apache HTTP Server vs Apache Tomcat vs nginx: What are the differences?
<Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, and nginx are popular web servers used for hosting websites. Each server has its own unique features and capabilities. In this comparison, we will highlight the key differences between Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, and nginx.>
1. **Architecture**: Apache HTTP Server is primarily designed for serving static content over HTTP, while Apache Tomcat is a Java Servlet Container that is used for deploying Java-based web applications. nginx, on the other hand, is known for its high-performance, asynchronous architecture, making it a popular choice for serving dynamic content efficiently.
2. **Functionality**: Apache HTTP Server is a powerful and flexible web server that can handle a wide range of web content, including static files, dynamic content, and CGI scripts. Apache Tomcat, being a Servlet Container, is specialized in executing Java-based applications, supporting Java Servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSP), and Java WebSocket. nginx excels in handling high traffic loads and efficiently serving static files, making it suitable for websites with high concurrency requirements.
3. **Configuration**: Apache HTTP Server uses a configuration file (httpd.conf) written in Apache configuration language, allowing users to customize various server settings. Apache Tomcat utilizes XML configuration files (server.xml, context.xml) for defining server and application-specific configurations. nginx employs a simple and intuitive configuration syntax that is easy to understand and implement, providing flexibility in configuring server directives.
4. **Resource Consumption**: Apache HTTP Server is known to consume more system resources compared to nginx, especially under high traffic conditions, due to its multi-threaded architecture. Apache Tomcat requires more memory allocation to run Java-based applications efficiently, making it resource-intensive compared to both Apache HTTP Server and nginx. nginx is renowned for its low memory footprint and efficient resource utilization, making it a preferable choice for optimizing server performance.
5. **SSL/TLS Support**: Apache HTTP Server provides comprehensive support for SSL/TLS encryption through modules like mod_ssl, enabling secure data transmission over HTTPS protocols. Similarly, Apache Tomcat supports SSL/TLS encryption for securing web applications using Java-based libraries like JSSE. nginx offers native support for SSL/TLS termination, allowing efficient handling of encrypted connections and enhancing server security with features like Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS).
6. **Community and Ecosystem**: Apache HTTP Server has a large and active community of developers and users, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and third-party modules to enhance server functionality. Apache Tomcat boasts a strong ecosystem of Java developers and enterprises supporting Java-based web applications, fostering collaboration and innovation in the Java community. nginx has gained popularity for its responsive community, frequent software updates, and robust support for modern web technologies, attracting a diverse user base seeking high-performance web server solutions.
In Summary, Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, and nginx differ in their architecture, functionality, configuration methods, resource consumption, SSL/TLS support, and community ecosystem, catering to diverse hosting requirements and preferences within the web server landscape.
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 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 Apache HTTP Server
- Hard to set up4
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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