What is a web server? Well, a web server is any computer system that can accept inbound requests sent via HTTP. HTTP, of course, is the underlying network protocol that supports all web services. In turn, a web server can use HTTP to distribute information right across the world wide web.
In the battle between commercial web servers and open source web servers, open source appears to be winning. The numbers show that more than 80% of today’s websites and applications that run on the web make use of open source servers.
Of course, there are a range of open source servers to choose from: each with its own pros and cons, and with a variety of features and benefits. Some open source web servers are also better supported than others which means you have a better chance that you can fix problems when these arise.
The most popular web servers are Apache, Nginx, Apache Tomcat, Lighttpd and IIS.