Leon Rosenberg wrote:
I'm sorry, I can't shut up my mouth on this, but you are telling myths :-)
And anyway, you just all forget this Java nonsense, and use Perl, as
Real Programmers do.
That's just kidding of course, but let's keep a sense of perspective.
If you just want to run jsp pages and java servlets, then you need
Tomcat (or another servlet engine), and there is no reason to add an
Apache httpd in front. It would just complicate and slow down things.
If you need to serve some static content in addition to running your jsp
pages and servlets, then there is still no need to put an Apache httpd
in front of Tomcat, it can do that fine too by itself.
If you need several Tomcats to take the load, and you need to balance
the calls to them, then you need a load-balancer in front; whether you
want to use Apache httpd for that, or some other device/software is
dependent on other factors. And if you want to use Apache, you can still
choose between mod_proxy_http, mod_proxy_ajp or mod_jk.
If you do not need to run jsp pages and servlets, then you don't need
Tomcat at all, and you'll be better off with Apache httpd alone.
If you need to run PHP or Perl or other non-Java applications, then you
need Apache httpd, because Tomcat can't do that with anywhere near the
same kind of speed and flexibility.
Now apart from the ideal clear-cut cases above, in the real world there
are many cases where what you need to do is a mixture of all that, and
that's where an Apache httpd/Tomcat combination may be the best choice.
And that's also where the versatility of Apache httpd comes into play, a
versatility which Tomcat does not match and probably never will, because
the purpose of each is different.
Where Tomcat is designed to be a Java servlet engine, Apache httpd is
designed for being a "swiss-army-knife" webserver. And it is free too
(contrary to a hardware load-balancer).
As much as Tomcat can also serve static content (and in simple cases do
it well and efficiently), Apache httpd can do everything that Tomcat can
do (except running Java applications). And then it can do a lot of
extra things that Tomcat cannot, and it can do it almost out of the box,
with a configuration which does not require being a Java expert.
And it is used by about 50% of all websites on the WWW, for a total of
some 100 Million. So it must be doing something right.
And not everyone can afford a server farm.
The point is, Apache httpd /can/ be a front-end to Tomcat, forwarding
what needs to be and serving the rest either locally or by proxying it
somehere else, do the authentication on behalf of itself and of Tomcat
with just about any back-end imaginable, balancing between several
back-end Tomcats, modifying requests to Tomcat on-the-fly and modifying
Tomcat's responses if need be also, cache responses, negotiate content,
track user activity and whatnot, and that is all just with the standard
modules available directly within the standard Apache distribution.
Tomcat cannot do the same for Apache. And it does not want to do it,
because its focus is on being a good java servlet server, not on being a
universal webserver like Apache httpd wants to be.
Now maybe in another 10 years, Tomcat will be able to do all these
things too. But by then maybe Java will be out of fashion (remember
Pascal, PL/1, RPG ?) and all decent webservers will be written in Erlang.
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