Small free windows web server?

biko

So I have been looking at various small servers to run on a remote box and present some webpages I have on there generated by various tools

My needs
* Static pages, nothing dynamic at all
* Must run as a windows service from get-go, I don't want to bother with SrvAny or similar (I am using nssm with nginx to get it as a service).
* Free

Have been running NGINX but can't get the windows service to work (without nssm) and may as well look at other small servers.

Just wanted to pick your brains about what's "best"
Today I've been contemplating
Tiny Server
lighttpd
mongoose

All computers on network are already behind a FW so no need for any particular security

Graham

Any particular reason you're skipping over IIS?

biko

Well, I find it too big/cumbersome and I just don't like it very much (not a great reason I know)
I did have Apache 2.2 for a while but also that was too big for my needs.
I suppose I just want to run a minuscule hasslefree windows server.

kyote00

how about node.js and express

code is as simple as:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.configure(function () {
    app.use(
        "/", //the URL throught which you want to access to you static content
        express.static(__dirname) //where your static content is located in your filesystem
    );
});
app.listen(3000); //the port you want to use

This site runs using node.js and express http://www.plezica.com/

biko

Thanks, in order to run node.js as a windows service, don't I need to use nssm again?

Colonel Panic

I just took a look at the Windows docs on Nginx and it doesn't support what makes Nginx worth using. It's weird though, some things on their roadmap for Windows (i.e. using IO Completion ports instead of this ****ty Windows version of select is in their Git repo. I've just never built it on Windows.

What about using Hyper-V and a small Linux VM?

Talisman

biko wrote: »

Thanks, in order to run node.js as a windows service, don't I need to use nssm again?

The os-service package allows you to run Node.js applications as a service.

biko

Thanks but if the server requires several steps to set up I might as well stick with ngix with nssm.
It already works the way I like, but it feels unstable at times (sometimes it won't start up after server reboot). I'm thinking if it's windows native it'll run smoothly.

* Windows
* Must run as a windows service from start
* Not IIS
* Free

gctest50

Abyss

biko

That looks perfect on paper, thanks! I'll give it a whirl tomorrow.

ARGINITE

civetweb

biko

Abyss is perfect for my needs. Free and installs easy (even does the windows service option on install) and easy to config.