1. Scalability: GlassFish is primarily designed for Java EE applications and offers extensive support for Java technologies, making it ideal for large enterprise applications requiring complex configurations. On the other hand, nginx is a lightweight web server and proxy server that excels in serving static content and handling a high volume of concurrent connections efficiently.
2. Configuration: GlassFish typically requires more complex configuration due to its comprehensive support for Java EE components and applications, with various XML deployment descriptors and settings to manage. In contrast, nginx has a simple and intuitive configuration syntax that is easy to understand and manage, allowing for quick setup and deployment of web servers with minimal overhead.
3. Resource Usage: GlassFish is known for its higher resource utilization, especially in memory consumption, as it runs on top of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) which can be more resource-intensive. nginx, being a lightweight server, is optimized for low resource usage and can efficiently handle a large number of concurrent connections with minimal memory footprint.
4. Load Balancing: GlassFish provides built-in support for load balancing and clustering features, allowing for the distribution of incoming traffic across multiple server instances for improved performance and fault tolerance. nginx also offers load balancing capabilities through various load-balancing algorithms, making it well-suited for distributing traffic among backend servers in a scalable and efficient manner.
5. SSL/TLS Termination: nginx is commonly used as a reverse proxy server for SSL/TLS termination, offloading the encryption and decryption process from the backend servers to improve performance and security. GlassFish also supports SSL/TLS encryption for secure communication but may require additional configuration and setup to achieve similar levels of SSL termination functionality.
6. Community and Support: nginx has a large and active open-source community with extensive documentation, plugins, and community support available, making it easy to find resources and solutions for common issues. GlassFish, while also supported by a community of Java developers, may have less available resources and community support compared to the widespread usage and support for nginx.

In Summary, GlassFish and nginx differ in scalability for enterprise applications, configuration complexity, resource usage efficiency, load balancing capabilities, SSL termination features, and community support and resources.