nginx or lighttpd? why?

jar

So I'm trying to decide which I like better for small systems. Immediately, lighttpd seems to have a lower footprint. I don't know much about optimization for either (long time Apache user), but the scripts running around that optimize nginx seem to still have it running with a larger footprint than a base install of lighttpd. Now, I don't put SQL on these systems at all. I do put PHP though.

So which of the two do you prefer and why? What are the pros and cons between the two in your experience on a low end VPS?

jcaleb

i think memory footprint is about the same. nginx eats lower cpu though.

1q1

nginx.

jar

Admittedly I've been installing nginx with minstall on Debian 6 (minimal) and lighttpd on Ubuntu 12.04 (minimal) with this list of commands I've disguised as a script: http://srv8.jarland-dev.com/setup.sh

jcaleb

also, nginx when pronounced is way more cool than lighttpd.

jar

Truth. It is fun to say EngineX

Francisco

@jcaleb said: also, nginx when pronounced is way more cool than lighttpd.

Until someone pointed out it's 'engine X' I always pronounced it as N-G-I-N-X

raindog308

@jcaleb said: also, nginx when pronounced is way more cool than lighttpd.

LOL...very true :-) Besides, a LEMP stack sounds better than a LLMP stack.

Francisco

@raindog308 said: LOL...very true :-) Besides, a LEMP stack sounds better than a LLMP stack.

Is there a webserver that starts with the letter I? Then you could say you have a LIMP stack, but then we'd all just feel sorry for your significant other.

Francisco

raindog308

@Francisco said: Is there a webserver that starts with the letter I?

Microsoft Windows IIS (Internet Information Server). But that would be a...wait for it...WIMP stack.

jcaleb

@Francisco said: Until someone pointed out it's 'engine X' I always pronounced it as N-G-I-N-X

i used to read it en-jeenks

@raindog308 said: WIMP stack.

lol

Francisco

@raindog308 said: Microsoft Windows IIS (Internet Information Server). But that would be a...wait for it...WIMP stack.

bahahaha

Francisco

Victor

Nginx ftw.

Taz

Nginx is bit better considering it is supported by multiple panels and works great for a reverse proxy.

yomero

@jcaleb
Yes, I like more en-jeeeeeenks

@Francisco IBM webserver o_O

rm_

I use Lighttpd only, it works exceptionally well (simple-vhost + fastcgi-php). Looked at nginx a couple of times, but it feels so much more awkward to configure. Plus there's just absolutely no incentive to switch to it.
In fact, once that I wanted to use nginx for something, turned out it didn't support the very thing I needed it for: being a reverse-proxy to IPv6-only host. And it looks like the developers have a reputation of being IPv6 luddites ("ipv6-what? who needs that").

yomero

@rm_ said: ipv6-what? who needs that

I don't need it.
And most people doesn't too.

Andri

Lighttpd's nick is "lighty", no?

vanarp

How easy it is to put redirection rules with Nginx?

For example I have rules like below in .htaccess file (WP site) :

RedirectMatch 301 ^/([0-9]{4})/([^/]+)/$ http://www.example.org/$2
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.example.org/$1 [R=301,L]

MrAndroid

Dosen't Lighttpd rules use the same syntax as mod_rewrite?

nabo

@jcaleb said: also, nginx when pronounced is way more cool than lighttpd.

Lighttpd = Lighty.

@vanarp said: How easy it is to put redirection rules with Nginx?

I don't see why this should be more difficult with Lighty :-)

---

Nginx:

server {
listen 80;
server_name www.example.com;
rewrite ^/(.*) http://example.com/$1 permanent;
}

Lighty:

$HTTP["host"] =~ "^www\.(.*)$" {
url.redirect = ( "^/(.*)" => "http://%1/$1" )
}

ShardHostSarah

@vanarp said: How easy it is to put redirection rules with Nginx?

For example I have rules like below in .htaccess file (WP site) :

RedirectMatch 301 ^/([0-9]{4})/([^/]+)/$ http://www.example.org/$2

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.example.org/$1 [R=301,L]

Very easy. http://wiki.nginx.org/HttpRewriteModule

Nginx is pretty easy to configure once you sit down with its config for a little while. The only issues I have ever had with Nginx have been with php-fpm, which isn't really nginx fault and actually turned out to be something easily fixed in configuration

MrAndroid

Someone made a Mod_Rewrite to NGINX Rewrite converter, but I can't seem to find it.

NickM

@Daniel said: Someone made a Mod_Rewrite to NGINX Rewrite converter, but I can't seem to find it.

http://www.anilcetin.com/convert-apache-htaccess-to-nginx/

I can't vouch for how well it works - I write all of my rewrite rules myself. Fortunately, I had it bookmarked though.

LES

The converter is not very accurate and works only for some basic stuff.

beard

nginx is actively developed and if you sign up on their mailing list, you can ask the developer and their team questions which they respond to very quickly

nabo

@beard said: nginx is actively developed and if you sign up on their mailing list, you can ask the developer and their team questions which they respond to very quickly

So where's the difference to Lighty? :-)

gsrdgrdghd

@nabo said: So where's the difference to Lighty? :-)

The difference is here:

http://redmine.lighttpd.net/projects/lighttpd/repository/revisions
vs
http://trac.nginx.org/nginx/log/nginx/

nabo

So? Much bugs in Nginx that have been fixed. I was more asking about an advantage than for a log whenever somebody writes what work had to be done to fix things.

gsrdgrdghd

It shows that Lighttpd isn't developed as active as nginx

Also compare the number of open bug reports in Lighttpd to the number of open bug reports in nginx:

http://redmine.lighttpd.net/projects/lighttpd/issues
http://trac.nginx.org/nginx/report/1

nabo

@gsrdgrdghd said: It shows that Lighttpd isn't developed as active as nginx

No that's not what its indicating. It's just listing fixed that had been applied.

We both construct a ventilator. We both construct it differently. So for one bug that needs to be fixed you just need one fix and I need 3 things fixed because my construction is different. So you list 1 applied fix and I list 3 applied fixes. And this now makes my ventilator more attractive as it is more actively developed? I doubt that.