Popular Types of Web Servers

Last Updated on 2 years by Touhid

A web server is a type of server which is used to host the website and application software through the internet. In this article, I’ll mention some eminent types of web servers which are available in the marketplace for website hosting.

Types of Web Servers

Typically, a web server is a computer system that is connected to the internet and responds to client requests via the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) protocol. The main purpose of a web server is to receive the client request and display the website content on the client browser through the internet.

Nowadays, there are different types of web servers available in the open market such as Apache web server, IIS server, Nginx and LiteSpeed are the most popular web servers. Let’s discuss the each types of web server.

1. Apache Web Server

Apache web server is a types of web server which is free and open source server application software. The Apache server delivers websites content such as HTML pages, images on web browsers through the internet.

It is most popular and widely used web server that supports all types of operating systems such as UNIX, Linux, Windows, Mac O/S and more. It is noted that, almost 35% of websites execute on the Apache web server.

The Apache web server is a community-developed software that is developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. It is free, cross-platform, reliable, secure, and it can customize according to environments requirements.

Installation of Apache Web Server

You can install and configure the Apache Web Server manually (command prompt window) on your server. But there has a very easy option to install this type of web server and other applications such as PHP, MySQL, and MariaDB in a single installation software.

The software is named XAMPP or Wamp Server that is a free and open source software package. XAMPP is the most popular software package for PHP environment which is available for different operating systems such as Windows, Linux and macOS.

Installation Steps of XAMPP (Windows Server):

Step 1: Open your internet browser and click here for download the XAMPP software.

Step 2: After completion of download, go to download folder and double click on the xampp installer .exe file to start for installation.

Step 3: Click “YES“, when you’ll see a pop-up window asking you “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device”.

Step 4: Then, a pop-up Windows security alert will ask you to allow access; here you’ll click on Allow access.

Step 5: Another pop-up window warning you to disable UAC. Here, you’ll click OK.

Step 6: Now, click on the “NEXT” to start the XAMPP Wizard setup.

Step 7: Select the required setup components which you want to install and then click on the “NEXT” button to for installation.

Step 8: Click “NEXT” to start for installation.

Step 9: Now, select the location where you want to install the XAMPP software. Setup process will creates a folder with location (C:\xampp). You can change your location and click “NEXT“.

Step 10: The process will take some time to complete the installation. After successful installation of the XAMPP software on your computer, you’ll see a screen named “completing the XAMPP setup Wizard”. Now, click on “FINISH” button to complete the installation.

Then, the XAMPP software will automatically start and a control panel will display on your screen.

2. Internet Information Service (IIS) Web Server

Internet Information Services (IIS) is a types of web servers that runs on Windows platform to display web content such as HTML pages, files and images. The IIS web server accepts requests from end users and responds to the request to display the content in the user’s browser.

The Internet Information Server or Internet Information Services is an extensible and most popular web server that is developed by Microsoft and used for Windows NT family. It is written in C++ programming language and it supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP and NNTP protocol.

Internet Information Services (also known as Internet Information Server) is a web server software that was created by Microsoft for use with the Windows NT family. Typically, an IIS web server runs the .NET-based web applications such as ASP.NET and ASP Web application on the Windows Operating System.

You can easily install and configure this types of web servers (Internet Information Server) on your computer or server. This article shows you how to install the IIS server on Windows operating system.

Installation of IIS Web Server

Step 1: Go to the start menu and type Turn Windows features on or off.

Step 2: Now, select the Internet Information Services checkbox and click OK.

Step 3: Installation process will start and wait for some time to complete the installation.

Step 4: You will see a message “Windows completed the requested changes” and click on Close.

Step 5: Again, Go to start menu and type IIS or Internet Information Service to check the installation process has successfully completed.

3. Nginx Web Server

Nginx is another types of web servers that is also open source software. The first release of Nginx was in October 2004, which was created by Igor Sysoev. Initially Nginx software acts as a web server; now it’s used also as a load balancer, reverse proxy, media streaming, and HTTP cache.

The Nginx Web Server configuration is easy, uses less amount of resources, and provides a high level of performance. It supports IMAP, POP3, SMTP, HTTP, TCP and UDP protocol. In recent times, it’s getting popular and about 32% unique domains powered by the Nginx web server for hosting their websites.

4. LiteSpeed Web Server

LiteSpeed (LSWS) is another popular types of web server which is developed by LiteSpeed Technologies and it is a commercial web server. The LSWS web server has the capability to replace all the functionality of Apache web server.

If you want to improve the performance of your web server, then you can upgrade your web server to LiteSpeed without changing any programs or operating system and lower operating costs. In recent times, it’s also getting popular and about 10% of hosting companies are using the LiteSpeed web server for hosting their websites.

Conclusion

Finally, a web server receives the user request and displays the content on the user’s web browser through the internet. This post has focused on popular types of web servers which are available in the market such as Apache web server, IIS server, Nginx, and LiteSpeed. Hope the article will be helpful for you to host your websites and applications.