Boa (web server)
| boa | |
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| Basic data
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| developer | Paul Phillips |
| Publishing year | 1995 |
| Current version | 0.94.14rc21 (February 23, 2005) |
| operating system | Platform independent |
| programming language | C. |
| category | Web server |
| License | GPL ( Free Software ) |
| Official website ( Memento of March 14, 2019 in the Internet Archive ) | |
Boa was a free , slim web server that was suitable , among other things, for use in embedded systems . Originally written by Paul Phillips, Larry Doolittle and Jon Nelson took care of it until the project was discontinued in 2005. In contrast to most other web servers, such as the Apache web server , the server worked with only one thread . Because of this and its minimalist approach, it was predestined for use on inefficient hardware. In addition to delivering static content, Boa was also able to deliver dynamic content. For this, third-party software could be connected via CGI , which processes user input and generates dynamic outputs.
Performance
Since server hardware is comparatively cheap nowadays, the ability to run Boas on very weak hardware with good performance practically only plays a role in the area of embedded systems. At the same time, however, this capability means that Boa delivers static content on fast hardware significantly faster, i.e. with lower latency and higher throughput , than other web servers. This predestines it for use on heavily frequented websites , for example for the delivery of graphics.
For this reason, the websites Slashdot and Fotolog, which are very popular in the English-speaking world, use the Boa web server to deliver graphics.
restrictions
Boa has the following restrictions: (As of 2/2010):
- No access control functions ( HTTP authentication etc.)
- No chroot option (planned)
- No server side includes (SSI cannot be reconciled with performance goals.)
- No SSL support - but there is a patch for version 0.94.13 which enables SSL, alternatively: Stunnel (a generic SSL tunnel)
- No support for "extra path" in CGI scripts (CGI environment variable PATH_INFO)
Web links
- Web Server Performance Comparison: LiteSpeed 2.0 VS ( Memento from September 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- Boa Sourceforge project page with source code up to version 0.94.13 from 2002.
- Boa Git repository from gnupg.org with more recent patches from Werner Koch (for personal use )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Sid Wentworth: Boa: an Embedded Web Server. (No longer available online.) Linuxjournal.com, July 1, 2001, archived from the original on December 14, 2017 ; Retrieved February 18, 2010 (English, article about Boa's capabilities as an embedded web server).
- ↑ a b c Introduction to Boa and History. (No longer available online.) Osnews.com, archived from the original on November 20, 2018 ; Retrieved on February 19, 2010 (English, first part of a three-part article on osnews.com about the Boa web server).
- ↑ a b Differences between Boa and other web servers. (No longer available online.) Boa.org, archived from the original on August 16, 2018 ; Retrieved on February 19, 2010 (English, list of differences in the documentation).
- ↑ Benchmarks with Boa and general information on Boa's performance. (No longer available online.) Osnews.com, archived from the original on November 20, 2018 ; Retrieved on February 19, 2010 (English, second part of a three-part article on osnews.com about the Boa web server).
- ↑ List of the limitations of Boa. (No longer available online.) Boa.org, archived from the original on August 16, 2018 ; accessed on February 19, 2010 (English, list of limitations in the documentation).