Expand Your Server Knowledge
This page collects useful external resources for understanding and operating web servers. From official documentation to debugging tools, these resources complement the tutorials and examples in this collection.
Official Documentation
The authoritative sources for server configuration and APIs.
- Nginx Documentation Official Nginx documentation with directives, modules, and examples
- Apache HTTP Server Documentation Comprehensive Apache documentation with module references
- Node.js HTTP Module Node.js built-in HTTP server and client API reference
- Caddy Documentation Modern web server with automatic HTTPS and simple configuration
TLS and Certificates
Resources for understanding and implementing HTTPS.
- Let's Encrypt Documentation Free TLS certificates and ACME protocol documentation
- Certbot EFF's tool for automatically obtaining and renewing TLS certificates
- Mozilla Server Side TLS Best practices for TLS configuration from Mozilla
- Mozilla SSL Configuration Generator Generate secure TLS configurations for Apache, Nginx, and more
- SSL Labs Server Test Deep analysis of your server's TLS configuration
Debugging Tools
Tools for testing and debugging web servers.
- curl Manual The definitive guide to curl - essential for HTTP debugging
- HTTPie User-friendly command-line HTTP client with intuitive syntax
- mitmproxy Interactive HTTPS proxy for inspecting and modifying traffic
- Wireshark Network protocol analyzer for deep packet inspection
Load Testing
Tools for benchmarking and load testing servers.
- Apache Bench (ab) Simple HTTP benchmarking tool included with Apache
- wrk Modern HTTP benchmarking tool with scriptable Lua support
- Locust Python-based load testing with distributed execution
- k6 Developer-centric load testing with JavaScript scripts
Monitoring and Observability
Tools for logging, metrics, and observability.
- Prometheus Time-series monitoring with powerful query language
- Grafana Visualization and dashboards for metrics and logs
- Elastic Stack (ELK) Log aggregation, search, and visualization
Serverless Platforms
Documentation for serverless and cloud function platforms.
- AWS Lambda Amazon's serverless compute platform documentation
- Google Cloud Functions GCP's event-driven serverless platform
- Azure Functions Microsoft's serverless compute documentation
- Vercel Edge functions and serverless deployment platform
- Cloudflare Workers Edge computing at Cloudflare's global network
Learning Resources
Articles, courses, and books for deeper understanding.
- web.dev Performance Google's guidance on web performance including server-side optimization
- Nginx Wiki Community-contributed Nginx tutorials and recipes
- High Scalability Architecture case studies from high-traffic sites
- The Twelve-Factor App Methodology for building scalable, maintainable web apps