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May 30, 2014
Beginner
5 Common Server Setups For Your Web
Application
Tagged In: Getting Started, Lamp Stack, Scaling, Caching
Introduction
When deciding which server architecture to use for your environment, there are many factors to consider, such as
performance, scalability, availability, reliability, cost, and ease of management.
Here is a list of commonly used server setups, with a short description of each, including pros and cons. Keep in
mind that all of the concepts covered here can be used in various combinations with one another, and that every
environment has different requirements, so there is no single, correct configuration.
1. Everything On One Server
The entire environment resides on a single server. For a typical web application, that would include the web
server, application server, and database server. A common variation of this setup is a LAMP stack, which stands
for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, on a single server.
Use Case: Good for setting up an application quickly, as it is the simplest setup possible, but it offers little in the
way of scalability and component isolation.
Contents
1. Everything On One Server
2. Separate Database Server
3. Load Balancer (Reverse Proxy)
4. HTTP Accelerator (Caching Reverse Proxy)
5. Master-Slave Database Replication
Example: Combining the Concepts
Conclusion
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Pros:
Simple
Cons:
Application and database contend for the same server resources (CPU, Memory, I/O, etc.) which, aside
from possible poor performance, can make it difficult to determine the source (application or database) of
poor performance
Not readily horizontally scalable
Related Tutorials:
How To Install LAMP On Ubuntu 14.04
2. Separate Database Server
The database management system (DBMS) can be separated from the rest of the environment to eliminate the
resource contention between the application and the database, and to increase security by removing the database
from the DMZ, or public internet.
Use Case: Good for setting up an application quickly, but keeps application and database from fighting over the
same system resources.
Pros:
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Application and database tiers do not contend for the same server resources (CPU, Memory, I/O, etc.)
You may vertically scale each tier separately, by adding more resources to whichever server needs
increased capacity
Depending on your setup, it may increase security by removing your database from the DMZ
Cons:
Slightly more complex setup than single server
Performance issues can arise if the network connection between the two servers is high-latency (i.e. the
servers are geographically distant from each other), or the bandwidth is too low for the amount of data
being transferred
Related Tutorials:
How To Set Up a Remote Database to Optimize Site Performance with MySQL
How to Migrate A MySQL Database To A New Server On Ubuntu 14.04
3. Load Balancer (Reverse Proxy)
Load balancers can be added to a server environment to improve performance and reliability by distributing the
workload across multiple servers. If one of the servers that is load balanced fails, the other servers will handle the
incoming traffic until the failed server becomes healthy again. It can also be used to serve multiple applications
through the same domain and port, by using a layer 7 (application layer) reverse proxy.
Examples of software capable of reverse proxy load balancing: HAProxy, Nginx, and Varnish.
Use Case: Useful in an environment that requires scaling by adding more servers, also known as horizontal
scaling.
Pros:
Enables horizontal scaling, i.e. environment capacity can be scaled by adding more servers to it
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Can protect against DDOS attacks by limiting client connections to a sensible amount and frequency
Cons:
The load balancer can become a performance bottleneck if it does not have enough resources, or if it is
configured poorly
Can introduce complexities that require additional consideration, such as where to perform SSL
termination and how to handle applications that require sticky sessions
Related Tutorials:
An Introduction to HAProxy and Load Balancing Concepts
How To Use HAProxy As A Layer 4 Load Balancer for WordPress Application Servers
How To Use HAProxy As A Layer 7 Load Balancer For WordPress and Nginx
4. HTTP Accelerator (Caching Reverse Proxy)
An HTTP accelerator, or caching HTTP reverse proxy, can be used to reduce the time it takes to serve content
to a user through a variety of techniques. The main technique employed with an HTTP accelerator is caching
responses from a web or application server in memory, so future requests for the same content can be served
quickly, with less unnecessary interaction with the web or application servers.
Examples of software capable of HTTP acceleration: Varnish, Squid, Nginx.
Use Case: Useful in an environment with content-heavy dynamic web applications, or with many commonly
accessed files.
Pros:
Increase site performance by reducing CPU load on web server, through caching and compression,
thereby increasing user capacity
Can be used as a reverse proxy load balancer
Some caching software can protect against DDOS attacks
Cons:
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Requires tuning to get best performance out of it
If the cache-hit rate is low, it could reduce performance
Related Tutorials:
How To Install Wordpress, Nginx, PHP, and Varnish on Ubuntu 12.04
How To Configure a Clustered Web Server with Varnish and Nginx
How To Configure Varnish for Drupal with Apache on Debian and Ubuntu
5. Master-Slave Database Replication
One way to improve performance of a database system that performs many reads compared to writes, such as a
CMS, is to use master-slave database replication. Master-slave replication requires a master and one or more
slave nodes. In this setup, all updates are sent to the master node and reads can be distributed across all nodes.
Use Case: Good for increasing the read performance for the database tier of an application.
Here is an example of a master-slave replication setup, with a single slave node:
Pros:
Improves database read performance by spreading reads across slaves
Can improve write performance by using master exclusively for updates (it spends no time serving read
requests)
Cons:
The application accessing the database must have a mechanism to determine which database nodes it
should send update and read requests to
Updates to slaves are asynchronous, so there is a chance that their contents could be out of date
If the master fails, no updates can be performed on the database until the issue is corrected
Does not have built-in failover in case of failure of master node
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Related Tutorials:
How To Optimize WordPress Performance With MySQL Replication On Ubuntu 14.04
How To Set Up Master Slave Replication in MySQL
Example: Combining the Concepts
It is possible to load balance the caching servers, in addition to the application servers, and use database
replication in a single environment. The purpose of combining these techniques is to reap the benefits of each
without introducing too many issues or complexity. Here is an example diagram of what a server environment
could look like:
Let's assume that the load balancer is configured to recognize static requests (like images, css, javascript, etc.)
and send those requests directly to the caching servers, and send other requests to the application servers.
Here is a description of what would happen when a user sends a requests dynamic content:
1. The user requests dynamic content from http://example.com/ (load balancer)
2. The load balancer sends request to app-backend
3. app-backend reads from the database and returns requested content to load balancer
4. The load balancer returns requested data to the user
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If the user requests static content:
1. The load balancer checks cache-backend to see if the requested content is cached (cache-hit) or not
(cache-miss)
2. If cache-hit: return the requested content to the load balancer and jump to Step 7. If cache-miss: the
cache server forwards the request to app-backend, through the load balancer
3. The load balancer forwards the request through to app-backend
4. app-backend reads from the database then returns requested content to the load balancer
5. The load balancer forwards the response to cache-backend
6. cache-backend caches the content then returns it to the load balancer
7. The load balancer returns requested data to the user
This environment still has two single points of failure (load balancer and master database server), but it provides
the all of the other reliability and performance benefits that were described in each section above.
Conclusion
Now that you are familiar with some basic server setups, you should have a good idea of what kind of setup you
would use for your own application(s). If you are working on improving your own environment, remember that
an iterative process is best to avoid introducing too many complexities too quickly.
Let us know of any setups you recommend or would like to learn more about in the comments below!
By Mitchell Anicas
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14 Comments
Write Tutorial
kylemclaren 3 days
Well explained, thanks!
Reply
dlazerka 3 days
And Google App Engine gives all of that for free, plus 1. Master-master replication, which gives you
almost infinite horizontal scaling. 2. Automatically replicates your data over datacenters/continents, so even
whole datacenter failure won't make your unavaliable. 3. Serves static content (HTML, CSS, JS, images)
without even touching your server, from Google's distributed Content Delivery Network. 4. Secures
HTTPS requests automatically, no need to obtain/install/manage SSL certificates. 5. Many more. And all
of that automatically, you don't worry how it works inside.
Reply
Abimael Martell 3 days
But GAP only supports some languages... you can't compare
Reply
nguyenhstephen 3 days
6/6/2014 5 Common Server Setups For Your Web Application | DigitalOcean
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#5 could be it's own article. lovely article though.
Reply
davidneubauer 3 days
Awesome article, can you write another one that includes Snort level security threat detection? ;)
Reply
adamkdean 3 days
@dlazerka whilst we're at it, why don't we suck all of the fun out of the web development as well, and just
go for a prebuilt system? Recommending people use something out of the tin rather than learning how it
works is setting them up for failure. Live a little, learn a little.
Reply
cerivera 3 days
awesome post.
Reply
kiru42 3 days
What happens when a load balancer fails? any alternative of common setups?
Reply
app 3 days
Great Post
Reply
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aglamb 3 days
incredible article! well served!
Reply
garethpoole 3 days
excellent summary, thanks a lot
Reply
kamlesh.kumar 3 days
It's very nice article thanks
Reply
dan 2 days
very good article. I have always wondered though what do people do about the single point of failure of a
load balancer? In all these pictures (and in my own setups as well) if the load balancer fails, what then?
Reply
Mitchell Anicas 2 days
@dan / @kiru42: The easiest way to avoid having the load balancer be a single point of failure is to set up
an active/passive HAProxy pair. This would require two HAProxy servers and a virtual/floating IP that can
move between the two servers. The active HAProxy server would handle all of the requests unless it went
down, at which point the passive HAProxy server would take over the requests. This is a high availability
(HA) setup. DigitalOcean, similarly to many other hosting providers, does not currently support floating IP
addresses. Some people suggest using round robin DNS to workaround not having floating IP addresses,
but it is not a true HA setup for a variety of reasons. I do not recommend it because there are situations
where it can actually decrease your availability. If you would like to experiment with it anyway, here is a
6/6/2014 5 Common Server Setups For Your Web Application | DigitalOcean
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tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-configure-dns-round-robin-load-
balancing-for-high-availability
Reply
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