I have absolutely nothing about lighttpd, and I have zero reasons to praise nginx over lighttpd, or my (weak) knowledge of nginx. My point was about the "This is true of any HTTP server [...]" [my emphasis] affirmation in your post, and I just wanted to clarify the difference between a pure HTTP server, and a HTTP server acting as a PROXY.
@eduperez I could not find a reference in the HTTP specifications which define what is a "pure HTTP server".
I wrote:
This is true of any HTTP server, or HTTPS server supporting TLS SNI (server name indication), which includes lighttpd, and includes nginx.
The specification for HTTP/1.1 was published in 1997 and has been updated a few times since
1997 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2068
1999 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2616 (see "Obsoleted by" near the top for more recent updates)
These specifications contain sections which define "proxy" server and other types of servers.
https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2068#section-1.3 Terminology
HTTP/1.1 requires HTTP requests be sent containing a Host header. An HTTP server compliant with HTTP/1.1 might support more than one "virtual host" based on the Host header, and might support different services for different hosts.
Even with "only" HTTP/1.0, a single site can support more than one service by running difference CGI scripts for different uri-paths, or using the (optional in HTTP/1.0) Host header.
There are many more examples that I could provide, but I do not believe I can gain further knowledge or understanding by continuing this conversation. Perhaps instead of "pure HTTP server" you meant a "simple" or "minimal" HTTP server instead of readily-available, open-source, production quality HTTP servers including (but not limited to) lighttpd and nginx, which have supported HTTP/1.1 and such features for many years.
I'm referring to the functionality provided by "mod_proxy" in lighthttpd, and similar modules in NGINX, Apache, and many other full-featured HTTP servers, but not in uhttpd and other "lite" servers.
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Appreciate all suggestions! I created two browser bookmarks/favorites referring to different ports, that meets my need.
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