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

Next Steps

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