kidkonnect has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am pretty new at perl. i've tested out running my scripts on IIS and it worked pretty good to me. so before i go all out with a perl script i was wondering what the best webserver is to run perl on a windows box

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Best Webserver for perl
by CountZero (Bishop) on Jul 13, 2010 at 18:37 UTC
    OK, I will jump the bait.

    Apache 2 since you can run mod_perl in it and mod_perl gives you full access to all the internals of Apache 2. Isn't that cool or what?

    CountZero

    A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity." - The Tao of Programming, 4.1 - Geoffrey James

Re: Best Webserver for perl
by Anonymous Monk on Jul 13, 2010 at 18:39 UTC
    I'm not sure it really matters from a perl perspective.

    For simple, low traffic stuff, CGI works well and is supported by most web servers.

    If you're serving from a windows box and are using ActiveState's perl you can use ISAPI for better speed on both IIS and the Windows port of Apache.

    A similar technique is to use mod_perl for Apache.

    I've also heard good things about using Fast CGI to speed things up.

    But all those are just protocols to help your web browser and your script communicate. I'd say the bid difference is which web server do you feel most comfortable configuring & maintaining.

    Personally I find Apache's text configuration files easier to navigate than trying to remember which of IIS's dialog boxes may have the correct option. But hey, that's just me.

Re: Best Webserver for perl
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jul 13, 2010 at 18:59 UTC

    I don't do web, but I just this with interest.

Re: Best Webserver for perl
by aquarium (Curate) on Jul 14, 2010 at 05:30 UTC
    I'd be pretty happy to recommend apache as well, straight off the rank...however if you have specific needs you need addressed, you might better qualify what "best" entails for you.
    If you don't have software install rights OR you have IIS already installed and not much idea about web stuff and more importantly apache, then a little script or two might as well just run from IIS. I'd push stronger for apache if more substantial perl CGI programs are run, and people at work rely on the perl CGI(s), e.g. stability, performance, flexibility, and maintenance. Then again you may balk at the learning curve for apache config.
    the hardest line to type correctly is: stty erase ^H