Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : What web server will you use?

[nokia3310]

I am trying to see your recommendations on what web server to use with the following websites, with details of why, if possible.

1. abduzeedo.com
2. gizmodo.com
3. zedge.net

Just choose the web server you will use Apache? Nginx? Lighttpd?

[funkywizard]

Why is it necessary to post those websites to get information on web servers? What kind of information are you actually looking for? What kind of requirements does your project have? These would be better questions to ask if you want useful information.

[TLight]

Apache would be good if your looking to use an online control panel like WHM/cPanel. If your confident with command line then deffinetly use Nginx as I will improve speed

[alons]

Hi,

1. abduzeedo.com - Apache
2. gizmodo.com - Apache
3. zedge.net - Apache/2.2.17

All are using Apache !

[Negizmo]

Originally Posted by alons

Hi,

1. abduzeedo.com - Apache
2. gizmodo.com - Apache
3. zedge.net - Apache/2.2.17

All are using Apache !

I don't believe he was wanting to know what they ARE using, rather he seems to want opinions on what we would personally use.

Personally, I'm a big fan of nginx + php-fcgi.

[misspink]

nginx and php-fpm+memcache+eaccelerator

[nokia3310]

Originally Posted by funkywizard

Why is it necessary to post those websites to get information on web servers? What kind of information are you actually looking for? What kind of requirements does your project have? These would be better questions to ask if you want useful information.

I post the websites because i know people will always ask you it depends this it depends that...well the websites are right there live and people can see what they depend on to stay alive.

So even with the websites, you still can't tell which one to use?

[funkywizard]

Originally Posted by nokia3310

I post the websites because i know people will always ask you it depends this it depends that...well the websites are right there live and people can see what they depend on to stay alive.

So even with the websites, you still can't tell which one to use?

"it depends this it depends that", yes, it does. Unfortunately, none of the "depends" information for those websites is anything any of us is privvy to. Starting with the most basic piece of information, how many hits / day or per second do those sites get? Only the people running those sites know for sure. What software is used to power those sites? Again, only the site owner knows for sure. Knowing those two pieces of information would be far more valuable than knowing what actual site we're dealing with.

edit: in any case, to answer your original question, typically I prefer apache because it is widely supported, fully featured, and easy to use. If a site is encountering performance issues that are clearly related to the web server software choice, and they can't be easily solved by tweaking apache's configuration, then my next choice would be nginx, whose performance and stability is unbeatable. The only reason I wouldn't go with nginx straight away for everything, is that it can take a bit more work to get configured properly and securely, especially if you are using website scripts that rely on .htaccess rewrites in order to function properly. Lighttpd and others would be good apache alternatives if nginx did not exist, but given the relative advantages and disadvantages of the various web server software I've used, I see no compelling reason to pick anything other than apache or nginx in my daily use.

[nokia3310]

1. abduzeedo.com (approx 5.5 million pageviews monthly)>>many images
2. gizmodo.com (approx 110 million pageviews)>>top high traffic blog
3. zedge.net (est. 500 million pageviews monthly)>>top high traffic downloads of images, audio and videos

[nokia3310]

Originally Posted by funkywizard

"it depends this it depends that", yes, it does. Unfortunately, none of the "depends" information for those websites is anything any of us is privvy to. Starting with the most basic piece of information, how many hits / day or per second do those sites get? Only the people running those sites know for sure. What software is used to power those sites? Again, only the site owner knows for sure. Knowing those two pieces of information would be far more valuable than knowing what actual site we're dealing with.

edit: in any case, to answer your original question, typically I prefer apache because it is widely supported, fully featured, and easy to use. If a site is encountering performance issues that are clearly related to the web server software choice, and they can't be easily solved by tweaking apache's configuration, then my next choice would be nginx, whose performance and stability is unbeatable. The only reason I wouldn't go with nginx straight away for everything, is that it can take a bit more work to get configured properly and securely, especially if you are using website scripts that rely on .htaccess rewrites in order to function properly. Lighttpd and others would be good apache alternatives if nginx did not exist, but given the relative advantages and disadvantages of the various web server software I've used, I see no compelling reason to pick anything other than apache or nginx in my daily use.

I agree that Apache is fully and widely supported but i see so many high traffic websites using Nginx, it makes one wonder if one is missing out. I mean as soon as there are control panels for Nginx, then i think more people will switch because no one wants to be missing out from the Nginx performance and speed

[funkywizard]

Originally Posted by nokia3310

I agree that Apache is fully and widely supported but i see so many high traffic websites using Nginx, it makes one wonder if one is missing out. I mean as soon as there are control panels for Nginx, then i think more people will switch because no one wants to be missing out from the Nginx performance and speed

Ah, didn't realize the other two sites were highly popular. I had only heard of gizmodo before.

There are some control panels for nginx out there, but to get the full benefit, you have to do quite a bit of configuring yourself. In particular, the php configuration needs special attention so that you don't accidentally open up a nasty security hole. The other part of the configuration that needs special attention is any rewrite rules your script expects, need to be converted into nginx configuration rules that perform the same function.

[nokia3310]

can you give examples of control panels that use nginx web server?

[funkywizard]

I believe there's cpnginx, which is a cpanel plugin that allows you to load static files through nginx instead of apache, without having to do any really serious configuration changes. The whole thing is pretty transparent. You don't get the full benefit you would get from an nginx + php fpm install, but again, you don't have to configure it either, and you still get some of the benefits of nginx.

[nokia3310]

Originally Posted by funkywizard

I believe there's cpnginx, which is a cpanel plugin that allows you to load static files through nginx instead of apache, without having to do any really serious configuration changes. The whole thing is pretty transparent. You don't get the full benefit you would get from an nginx + php fpm install, but again, you don't have to configure it either, and you still get some of the benefits of nginx.

So you mean there is no control panel fully for nginx?
This is sad; really sad.

[h4wk]

Originally Posted by nokia3310

So you mean there is no control panel fully for nginx?
This is sad; really sad.

Most of the people using nginx are trying to get the most out of their hardware or are using it for very specific purpose. The sites you listed above have enough income to afford large servers.