[sf-lug] need for .html suffix

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Alex Kleider (a_kleider at yahoo.com):

> Thanks for the tip, Rick.  "lighttpd" was the first web server I
> tried (as a result of a suggestion from someone I ran into at
> Noisebridge, don't remember who) and it served me well, but when the
> computer on which it was running began to give me problems, I found
> that when ever I asked questions, instead of any attempt at helpful
> answers, I got negative comments about lighttpd and advice to only
> consider Apache2.  So I did, and now I find myself back with lighttpd
> and based on your comments, I'll stick with it.

Some people feel obliged to bash what they're less familiar with, I
guess.

There certainly are situations where Apache httpd makes more sense,
including but not limited to ones where you intend to lean on the
expertise of Apache admins.  OTOH, Lighty's scaled better for a plug
computer.

> The next thing I'd like to try is to set up "name-based virtual hosts"
> (as opposed to virtual interfaces) and I've read that lighttpd can do
> this and that to do so might be even easier on lighttpd than it is on
> Apache.

Yeah, now, case in point:  If you were intending to ask the next server
admin for an example of such a config and bumped into me, I could mail
you an Apache httpd one, but not one for Lighty as I've never tackled
that problem.  On the other hand, it's probably not difficult.

> I've also considered nginx although haven't got to the point of installing 
> it to try it out. I found the books about it a bit daunting for my 
> level of expertise. It sounds as though nginx might be more appropriate 
> for installations much bigger than anything I'll ever run.

Pretty much.  Standard use case for nginx is that you're planning to run
some large, ponderous back-end Web server for content -- say, Java
servlets or Ruby on Rails -- and need a front-end HTTP reverse proxy
server (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_proxy) to speed up the
user experience.  nginx will do that.  There are also other uses.