Question

I’m working on a project of which a large part is server side software. I started programming in C++ using the sockets library. But, one of my partners suggested that we use a standard server like IIS, Apache or nginx.

Which one is better to do, in the long run? When I program it in C++, I have direct access to the raw requests where as in the case of using standard servers I need to use a scripting language to handle the requests. In any case, which one is the better option and why?

Also, when it comes to security for things like DDOS attacks etc., do the standard servers already have protection? If I would want to implement it in my socket server, what is the best way?

Answer 1

“Server side software” could mean lots of different things, for example this could be a trivial app which “echoes” everything back on a specific port, to a telnet/ftp server to a webserver running lots of “services”.

So where in this gamut of possibilities does your particular application lie? Without further information, it’s difficult to make any suggestions, but let’s see..

1. Web Services, i.e. your “server side” requirement is to handle individual requests and respond having done some set of business logic. Typically communication is via SOAP/XML, and this is ideal if you bave web based clients (though nothing prevents your from accessing these services via standalone clients). Typially you host these on web servers as you mentioned, and often they are easiest written in Java (I’ve yet to come across one that needed to be written in C++!)
2. Simple web site – slightly different to the above, respods to HTML get/post requests and serves up static or dymanic content (I’m guessing this is not what you’re after!)
3. Standalone server which responds to something specific, here you’d have to implement your own “messaging”/protocols etc. and the server will carry out a specific function on incoming request and potentially send responses back. Key thing here is that the server does something specific, and is not a generic container (at which point 1 makes more sense!)

So where does your application lie? If 1/2 use Java or some scripting language (such as Perl/ASP/JSP etc.) If 3, you can certainly use C++, and if you do, use a suitable abstraction, such as boost::asio and Google Protocol buffers, save yourself a lot of headache…

With regards to security, ofcourse bugs and security holes are found all the time, however the good thing with some of these OS projects is that the community will tackle and fix them. Let’s just say, you’ll be safer using them than your own custom handrolled imlpementation, the likelyhood that you’ll be able to address all the issues that they would have encountered in the years they’ve been around is very small (no disrespect to your abilities!)

EDIT: now that there’s a little more info, here is one possible approach (this is what I’ve done in the past, and I’ve jused Java most of the way..)

1. The client facing server should be something reliable, esp. if it’s over the internet, here I would use a proven product, something like Apache is good or IIS (depends on which technologies you have available). IMHO, I would go for jBoss AS – really powerful and easily customisable piece of kit, and integrates really nicely with lots of different things (all Java ofcourse!) You could then have a simple bit of Java which can then delegate to your actual Server processes that do the work..

2. For the Server procesess you can use C++ if that’s what you are comfortable with

There is one key bit which I left out, and this is how 1 & 2 talk to each other. This is where you should look at an open source messaging product (even more higher level than asio or protocol buffers), and here I would look at something like Zero MQ, or Red Hat Messaging (both are MQ messaging protocols), the great advantage of this type of “messaging bus” is that there is no tight coupling between your servers, with your own handrolled implementation, you’ll be doing lots of boilerplate to get the interaction to work just right, with something like MQ, you’ll have multiplatform communication without having to get into the details… You wil save yourself a lot of time and bother if you elect to use something like that.. (btw. there are other messaging products out there, and some are easier to use – such as Tibco RV or EMS etc, however they are commercial products and licenses will cost a lot of money!)

With a messaging solution your servers become trivial as they simply handle incoming messagins and send messages back out again, and you can focus on the business logic…

my two pennies… 🙂