Web Servers

Trident works with any web server. The two most common setups are placing a web server in front of Trident (reverse proxy mode) or placing Trident in front of a web server (edge cache mode).

Architecture 1: Web Server in Front of Trident

The web server handles TLS termination and forwards requests to Trident, which caches responses from your backend application.

Client ──HTTPS──▸ Nginx/Apache ──HTTP──▸ Trident (:8120) ──HTTP──▸ Backend (:8080)

Use this when:

• You already have Nginx or Apache managing TLS certificates (e.g. via Let's Encrypt / Certbot)
• You want to keep your existing web server configuration and add Trident as a caching layer
• You need the web server for features like rate limiting, access control, or serving static files directly

Architecture 2: Trident in Front of Web Server

Trident sits at the edge and forwards cache misses to Nginx or Apache, which runs your application.

Client ──HTTP──▸ Trident (:8120) ──HTTP──▸ Nginx/Apache (:8080) ──▸ App

Use this when:

• Your web server is tightly coupled with the application (e.g. Apache with mod_php)
• You want Trident to handle all incoming traffic and cache as much as possible
• You prefer a simpler setup without an extra reverse proxy layer

Comparison

	Web Server in Front	Trident in Front
TLS termination	Web server	External (load balancer, CDN) or Trident listener with tls: true
Static files	Can be served directly by web server	Cached by Trident
Complexity	Extra proxy hop	Simpler chain
Best for	Existing web server setups	New deployments, containerized apps

Next Steps

• Nginx - Configuration examples for Nginx
• Apache - Configuration examples for Apache