“Is your Apache Web server slowing down under the weight of
streaming media content or database-driven applications? Lighttpd,
sometimes pronounced ‘Lighty,’ is a lightweight HTTP server that
can help alleviate Apache’s load by serving static content or CGI
scripts. Since Lighttpd uses fewer resources per request than
Apache alone, it can generally serve most static content faster
than Apache. It also benefits from an actively developed FastCGI
interface that performs true load balancing, giving you all the
performance benefits of compiled into Apache modules such as
PHP.“One of the most beautiful things about using Lighttpd is that
you can run it behind Apache via Apache’s proxy module. This means
you don’t need to add another physical server in order to use
it…”