We use NGINX as it's primary web server. We have chosen to use Nginx as it is built for performance especially when serving static files such as Javascript, CSS and images.
In addition to Nginx, we also utilises Apache meaning that your sites can still use .htaccess files for things like redirects. This is done internally on the server via a reverse proxy. Any requests for files that are not static content such as PHP and HTML pages will be sent to through to Apache via the reverse proxy. For performance any PHP requests are served from PHP-PFM.
What File Types Does Nginx Serve?
Static files are determined by the file extension. The following extensions are considered static files:
By default, Nginx will serve static files from any site. Static files are determined by the file extension. The following extensions are considered static files:
bmp
class
css
doc
docx
ejs
eot
eps
gif
ico
jar
jpeg
jpg
js
mid
midi
mp4
otf
pdf
pict
pls
png
ppt
pptx
ps
svg
svgz
swf
tif
tiff
ttf
webp
woff
woff2
xls
xlsx
Using Apache to serve static files
If you would prefer that all requests go to Apache it is possible to bypass Nginx on a per site basis by unchecking the "Serve Static Files via NGINX" box under the Performance heading for a website in the platform.
Nginx will still be the front end web server however unchecking this option will mean that all file types will be sent to through to Apache via the reverse proxy.