A machine that houses websites is called a web server. Your computer requests a website from a server when you enter a web address in the browser, and the server then sends the requested page back to your computer. HTML files, photos, videos, and other sorts of material are all kept on the server and served to website visitors whenever a browser requests your website.
The six most common web servers are Apache, IIS, Nginx, LiteSpeed, Tomcat, and Node.js, while there are many other web server software available as well. Continue reading to discover more about the advantages of each of these servers!
Apache Web Server
A strong tool that may be used to host websites and applications is the Apache Web Server. It is free open-source software that is utilized by a ton of significant businesses and organizations. For people who want to set up their own web server, the Apache Web Server is an excellent option and is a very popular web hosting choice.
The Apache Web Server is an excellent option for you if you’re searching for a web server that is simple to use and set up. It is a web server that is dependable and secure and can manage a lot of traffic. The best part is, Apache costs nothing.
Apache is widely used for hosting PHP-based projects.
Apache is a standard in the Web hosting industry. Most of the traditional web hosting providers use Apache Web servers. If you already own a website, then it is highly probable that you’re using Apache.
Control panels such as cPanel, DirectAdmin, and Interworx too come in default with Apache which can later be changed to Nginx or LiteSpeed based on your preference.
IIS Web Server
One essential element of the Microsoft Windows Server platform is the Internet Information Services (IIS) web server. IIS gives companies the ability to host websites and applications on the Windows Server platform, giving customers a safe and dependable means to access the content.
IIS is a web server with several features that offers numerous alternatives for companies of all sizes. IIS includes a number of capabilities to enhance security, performance, and scalability and can be used to host basic websites or complex web applications.
It is ideal for running ASP.NET-based applications.
IIS is usually provided with Windows Hosting services. If not, it can easily be installed on services such as VPS or Dedicated Servers.
NGINX Web Server
Websites and other web-based applications can both be hosted by using the Nginx web server, which is a useful tool. It is well-known for its excellent performance as well as its consistency. NGINX is compatible with a wide range of systems, including Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD, among others.
NGINX is a widely used option for web servers due to its capacity to manage a high volume of concurrent connections and its adaptable configuration options. Additionally, it possesses a broad variety of functionalities, such as load balancing, caching, and compression, amongst others.
If you are searching for a web server that is not only quick but also dependable and simple to configure, then NGINX is an excellent choice to take into consideration.
NGINX is a high-performance web server that is widely utilized for the purpose of hosting websites as well as web applications. It is well-known for its consistency as well as its extensive feature set and low resource use. Caching static material and managing requests for dynamic content are two of the ways in which you can use NGINX to boost the speed of your website or online application. In addition to that, it can be used to distribute the strain of web traffic over different servers.
NGINX may be an extremely useful tool for a number of different purposes, including load-balancing web traffic over numerous servers, optimizing the speed of your website or online application, and more.
Nginx is gaining momentum due to its useful in-built tools. CLI tools such as Centminmod use Nginx by default. But still, Apache is the #1 most commonly used web server system.
Litespeed Web Server
Your website’s performance may be improved by utilizing the high-performance web server known as LiteSpeed, which is available to you. It is a direct replacement for the Apache web server and is compatible with the vast majority of PHP applications already in existence. Litespeed also provides a lot of capabilities that Apache does not, for instance, built-in caching.
If you are seeking a method to boost the performance of your website, Litespeed is an excellent choice to take into consideration as an option.
LiteSpeed is provided by default with Cenmax’s Web Hosting service. Many hosting providers are slowly transitioning to LiteSpeed. However cheap web hosting providers are unable to make the transition as LiteSpeed is a commercial web server which increases overall operating costs for them whereas Apache is an open-source free-to-use web server.
Apache Tomcat
Not to be confused with Apache web server (which is a PHP web server), Apache Tomcat is a web server and servlet container that was developed by the Apache Software Foundation and is available under an open-source license.
Tomcat is the application that is used to run web applications written in Java servlets and JSP (JavaServer Pages). Tomcat is one of the most widely used web servers currently available, and it is responsible for the operation of millions of websites and apps.
Both as a standalone web server and as a servlet container within another web server, such as Apache HTTP Server or Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), are both possible uses for Tomcat. Downloadable versions of Tomcat can be obtained from the Apache website.
Usually, services advertised as Java Hosting comes with Apache Tomcat.
Node.js
NodeJS is a sophisticated JavaScript runtime that enables developers to build scalable, real-time applications powered by Google’s V8 Engine. Node.js is event-driven and non-blocking, making it excellent for building fast, concurrent applications.
Node.js also includes a vast ecosystem of modules and tools that makes it easy to get started with building complex apps.
If you’re wanting to build quick, scalable, real-time apps, then Node.js is the appropriate platform for you.
If you have used Node.js to develop your application, the Node.js web server would be the right choice for you.
While Apache, IIS, and Tomcat are offered bundled with web hosting solutions, the industry does not have a Node.js based shared hosting yet. So, the only option to install Node.js is by using a root server like VPS or Dedicated Server.
Conclusion
A web server is a computer system that saves and delivers online pages. It is connected to the Internet and replies to requests from clients, who are usually browsers. When you type a URL into a browser, the browser contacts the server and requests the page. The server then delivers the page to the browser, which displays it.
There are many different types of web servers, but the most used one is the Apache HTTP Server.
Hope this article helped you understand what a web server is, and the most popular web servers that you can use in your future projects.
