is it possible to have more web server at a computer simultaneously?

Question

can we have more web servers(communicating via HTTP protocol to the clients) work in parallel at single computer. supose a single machine has ip address 123.45.78.10 and it is connected to internet.Is it possible for that computer to have more web servers(all using HTTP protocol) wroking in parallel.as we know that at a time only one server(that uses HTTP protocol) uses port 80 only. pls clear my confusion as soon as possible if u can. i am really waiting for ur replys. hope i will certainly get positive reply from u.

Answer 1

A web server can handle multiple connections (child processes) even though there is only one web server running. For instance you can have Apache running (just a single server) and still have multiple "child" processes and users running. Here is an article on performance for apache http server http://www.howtoforge.com/configuring_apache_for_maximum_performance



Depending on the speed of the processor and the amount of RAM available several hundred to several thousand connections can be active with a single physical server. You can also have apache (or most http servers) launch multiple servers as well even on one computer.



If more connections are needed you can always set an "overflow" server or use load balancing servers.

Answer 2

Yup. Happens all the time. In fact, some web server software (IIS comes to mind) are designed to do just that.

Answer 3

I believe what you are looking for is virtual directories (IIS).