Many of our customers run both the Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat web servers - with good cause, since Tomcat is biased towards web applications where the same code is run many, many times over and httpd is biased towards serving pages and is better tuned for a much larger number of different pages but at a somewhat less frequent interval.

But the user (via browser) wants a single point of contact - typically httpd - with a number of mechanisms used to link the two servers. Jserv, mod_jk2 and warp are all deprecated, mod_rewrite can be used, but the most common link is done through httpd's mod_jk or mod_proxy modules. Historically, mod_proxy has been much easier to set up but has had a reputation for being much slower. Link - "The Connector Story"

Is mod_proxy's reputation for being slow deserved? How DO the speeds compare? The questions were asked during last week's deployment course in Glasgow and I thought I would - my first clear day - do some experiments to find out.

I set up a server (Linux, Fedora core 3, Apache 2, Tomcat 5.5) and set up both jk and proxy connections between them. I also set up an httpd alias to allow a direct httpd access to a web application, and an http connector on Tomcat to allow direct access via that server. I then benchmarked a plain HTML file of 1k in size, using the ab tool to load the page 1000 times in quick succession in four different ways.

ab -n1000 http://snowdrop:8080/latmjdemo/index.html > tomcat
ab -n1000 http://snowdrop/direct/index.html > httpd
ab -n1000 http://snowdrop/latmjdemo/index.html > jk
ab -n1000 http://snowdrop/felix/index.html > proxy

Running the test on a quiet network five times, with the ab commands running in a different order to balance out any caching issues, I got the following:

Direct access via httpd - 300 per second
Direct access via Tomcat - 483 per second
Access via both servers connected by jk - 307 per second
Access via both servers connected by proxy - 222 per second

What I expected? No, to be honest I was surprised that the direct access via httpd was so slow compared to the others. But then thinking it through, Tomcat is a great CACHEING server so it will perform proportionately far better on a test such as this that repeatedly hits the same page.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that proxy was less that 30% slower than jk - I feared much worse. And thinking through the benchmark I ran, serving an html page is likely to be one of the data types that shows up the difference too - there's no gobs of Java code to be run to dilute the protocol time.

Conclusion? If you want every ounce of performance from your httpd / Tomcat pair, use jk. If you're not pushing it to the limit, then proxy's likely to be fine for you.
(written 2006-03-03, updated 2006-06-09)

 A657 - Web Application Deployment - Using httpd to front Tomcat
  [576] Why run two different web servers - (2006-01-25)
  [1377] Load Balancing with Apache mod_jk (httpd/Tomcat) - (2007-10-02)
  [1566] Strange behaviour of web directory requests without a trailing slash - (2008-03-06)
  [1939] mod_proxy_ajp and mod_proxy_balancer examples - (2008-12-13)
  [1940] URL rewriting with front and back servers - (2008-12-14)
  [1944] Forwarding session and cookie requests from httpd to Tomcat - (2008-12-14)
  [2483] Clustering on Tomcat - (2009-10-30)
  [3018] Tuning Apache httpd and Tomcat to work well together - (2010-10-27)
  [3999] Handling failures / absences of your backend server nicely - (2013-02-08)

A655 - Web Application Deployment - Using Tomcat and Apache httpd Together
  [436] Linking Apache httpd to Apache Tomcat - (2005-09-05)
  [1376] Choosing between mod_proxy and mod_rewrite - (2007-10-02)
  [1383] Monitoring mod_jk and how it is load balancing - (2007-10-07)
  [1549] http, https and ajp - comparison and choice - (2008-02-22)
  [1552] Extra public classes in deploying Apache httpd and Tomcat - (2008-02-24)
  [1771] More HowTo diagrams - MySQL, Tomcat and Java - (2008-08-24)
  [1938] Predictive Load Balancing - PHP and / or Java - (2008-12-13)
  [2482] Load balancing with sticky sessions (httpd / Tomcat) - (2009-10-29)

A608 - Web Application Deployment - Apache httpd mod_proxy
  [934] Clustering, load balancing, mod_rewrite and mod_proxy - (2006-11-21)
  [1006] Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat together tips - (2006-12-24)
  [1121] Sharing the load with Apache httpd and perhaps Tomcat - (2007-03-29)
  [1767] mod_proxy and mod_proxy_ajp - httpd - (2008-08-22)
  [2062] Virtual hosting and mod_proxy forwarding of different domains (httpd) - (2009-03-01)
  [2273] Three recent questions on Tomcat Convertors - (2009-07-07)
  [2325] Apache, Tomcat, mod_proxy - (2009-08-06)
  [3293] Distributing the server load - yet ensuring that each user return to the same system (Apache httpd and Tomcat) - (2011-05-18)
  [3339] Simplest ever proxy configuration? - (2011-06-28)
  [3680] How can I run multiple web servers behind a single IP address? - (2012-04-02)
  [3892] Distributed, Balanced and Clustered Load Sharing - the difference - (2012-10-13)

A607 - Web Application Deployment - Apache httpd mod_rewrite
  [755] Using different URLs to navigate around a single script - (2006-06-11)
  [1009] Passing GET parameters through Apache mod_rewrite - (2006-12-27)
  [1207] Simple but effective use of mod_rewrite (Apache httpd) - (2007-05-27)
  [1381] Using a MySQL database to control mod_rewrite via PHP - (2007-10-06)
  [1636] What to do if the Home Page is missing - (2008-05-08)
  [1731] Apache httpd, MySQL, PHP - installation procedure - (2008-08-01)
  [1778] Pointing all the web pages in a directory at a database - (2008-08-30)
  [1954] mod_rewrite for newcomers - (2008-12-20)
  [2094] If you have a spelling mistake in your URL / page name - (2009-03-21)
  [2555] Bookkeeping - (2009-12-29)
  [2728] Redirecting a home page using mod_rewrite - (2010-04-17)
  [2768] Carrying a long URL around - looking for memorable shorts - (2010-05-17)
  [2773] Dynamically watching your web site via a PHP wrapper - (2010-05-21)
  [2900] Redirecting a page - silent, temporary or permanent? - (2010-08-03)
  [2981] How to set up short and meaningfull alternative URLs - (2010-10-02)
  [3197] Finding and diverting image requests from rogue domains - (2011-03-08)
  [3568] Telling which ServerAlias your visitor used - useful during merging domains - (2012-01-04)
  [3753] Adding a passcode to a directory - (2012-06-05)
  [3862] Forwarding a whole domain, except for a few directories - Apache http server - (2012-09-17)

A603 - Web Application Deployment - Further httpd Configuration
  [345] Spotting a denial of service attack - (2005-06-12)
  [466] Separating 'per instance' data from binaries and web sites - (2005-10-16)
  [526] Apache httpd - serving web documents from different directories - (2005-12-12)
  [550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
  [649] Denial of Service ''attack'' - (2006-03-17)
  [662] An unhelpful error message from Apache httpd - (2006-03-30)
  [853] To list a directory under httpd on a web server, or not? - (2006-09-02)
  [1080] httpd.conf or .htaccess? - (2007-02-14)
  [1351] Compressing web pages sent out from server. Is it worth it? - (2007-09-14)
  [1355] .php or .html extension? Morally Static Pages - (2007-09-17)
  [1551] Which modules are loaded in my Apache httpd - (2008-02-23)
  [1554] Online hotel reservations - Melksham, Wiltshire (near Bath) - (2008-02-24)
  [1564] Default file (MiMe types) for Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat - (2008-03-04)
  [1619] User and Group settings for Apache httpd web server - (2008-04-22)
  [1707] Configuring Apache httpd - (2008-07-12)
  [1762] WEB-INF (Tomcat) and .htaccess (httpd) - (2008-08-20)
  [1955] How to avoid duplicating web page maintainance - (2008-12-20)
  [1974] Moving a directory on your web site - (2009-01-03)
  [2060] Database connection Pooling, SSL, and command line deployment - httpd and Tomcat - (2009-03-01)
  [2272] Monitoring and loading tools for testing Apache Tomcat - (2009-07-07)
  [2478] How did I do THAT? - (2009-10-26)
  [3133] An image from a website that occasionally comes out as hyroglyphics - (2011-01-14)
  [3449] Apache Internal Dummy Connection - what is it and what should I do with it? - (2011-09-19)
  [3635] Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING on brand new web site - why? - (2012-03-03)
  [3955] Building up from a small PHP setup to an enterprise one - (2012-12-16)
  [4001] Helping search engines with appropriate 400 error codes - (2013-02-11)
  [4307] Identifying and clearing denial of service attacks on your Apache server - (2014-09-27)

Back to Hostnames spring forward

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Moral dilemma

Odd one out.
Real chance to make a difference
Copying a reference, or cloning
Moral dilemma
Apache httpd to Tomcat - jk v proxy
Hostnames spring forward
Choosing the right language
Active Learning
JIT or JAU
Not just a pretty face to answer the phone.