Nginx is to Apache as JSON is to XML

As part of getting up and running on FsckVPS I decided to go with Nginx rather than Apache because it's so hot right now (like Hansel) and I figured it's something I should learn.

Well, after setting up Nginx with Passenger, Ruby / Rack / Rails, and Python / WSGI / TurboGears I have to say that there is no reason in my mind to go back to apache.

Nginx is simpler than Apache in the same way that JSON is simpler than XML.


Passenger installs Nginx for you!
Virtual Hosts with Nginx
Nginx as a Reverse Proxy for a Thin cluster
Nginx and Passenger way easier than mod_wsgi
Nginx articles on Slicehost


This is much less complicated than it sounds:

1. Installed Ubuntu 9.04
2. Installed latest stable ruby (which includes rubygems) from source
3. Installed passenger gem
4. Installed nginx from source with passenger
5. Configured nginx (including init.d)
6. What!? Entirely amazed that I got it right on the first try!