How to deploy a fphttpapp (standalone) web app from an apache server?
lazarus / 38-Networking and Web Programming

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cpicanco · 2019-07-21 21:58

Hi guys, is it possible to deploy a fphttpapp (standalone) web app
from an apache server? If yes, in what scenarios you would do it? What
would be the main benefits compared to Fast CGI/ CGI?

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zamronypj · 2019-08-17 20:44

If fphttpapp web app is running in same machine as Apache web server,
it is possible as long as both listen on different port.

Benefit of deploying fphttpapp is less software layer, requests come
directly to web app. So there are possible performance benefit
depending on how you develop web app. This is not the case with
fastcgi/cgi web app as requests are received by Apache and then pass
to mod_fcgid/mod_proxy_fcgi/mod_cgi module then to web app.

The benefit using fastcgi/cgi with capable web server such Apache is
that many security issues/attacks may already be handled by Apache so
less possible attacks to worry. this is not the case when deploying
fphttpapp standalone.

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Leledumbo · 2019-08-18 02:26

Quote from: cpicanco on July 21, 2019, 11:58:36 pmHi guys, is it
possible to deploy a fphttpapp (standalone) web app from an apache
server? If yes, in what scenarios you would do it? What would be the
main benefits compared to Fast CGI/ CGI?
Why not? In my company, we use nginx as reverse proxy because
fphttpserver doesn't implement what a standalone web server does, like
domain resolution and caching, for instance. Apache should be able to
do the same. The benefit is similar with FastCGI, that is the web
server is long running hence require much less initialization and once
up only needs to handle incoming requests directly. Speedwise, it
might be simpler than FastCGI since no additional protocol involved.
As a reverse proxy, all that the standalone web server does is
delegate the request handling, nothing more.

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Thaddy · 2019-08-18 07:12

Another scenario that I use is for remote status reporting of certain
software and hardware. There a full-featured server is overkill.

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cpicanco · 2019-09-01 19:51

Thank you for your insights guys. So, it is possible and desirable for
performant systems and when you can manage all intricate security
concerns.

I thought about this question reading Marcus Douglas' post showing how
one can develop cgi projects locally without an external web server.

https://objectpascalprogramming.com/fpweb-hello

Right now it seems to me that this post shows a workaround that can
reduce costs in the development cycle.

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nouzi · 2019-09-01 23:47

See
https://medium.com/@marcusfernstrm/create-rest-apis-with-
freepascal-441e4aa447b7