This is a growing list of known online portals and the technology used to power them on the back-end. We are using several investigative methods, technical and non-technical, to come up with an educated answer or guess as to what lies behind the scenes for these portals. Keep in mind that these systems are most likely clustered as opposed to a standalone dedicated server.
We list the Web server, server-side engine or accelerator, and CDN. Don’t forget to check back often as we update this list daily.
Google.com
Web Server: GWS
Server-side: C++ / Python / Java
CDN: N/A
WordPress.com
Web Server: Nginx
Server-side: PHP / Varnish
CDN: Custom built w/ Varnish Cache
Reddit.com
Web Server: Unknown
Server-side: WSGI w/Python
CDN: Akamai
Digg.com
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: PHP 5 w/ Digg modifications
CDN: Contendo CDN
Yahoo.com
Web Server: YTS 1.18 Proxy
Server-side: C/C++ / PHP
CDN: N/A
Fiverr.com
Web Server: Apache 2.2.x on Ubuntu
Server-side: Phusion Passenger (mod_rails/mod_rack) 2.2.15
CDN: N/A
Blackberry.com
Web Server: Apache 2.0.x
Server-side: Tomcat / JBoss
CDN: Akamai
Paypal.com
Web Server: Apache and thttpd
Server-side: Java and C++
CDN: N/A
News.ycombinator.com
Web Server: Apache 2.2.x on Ubuntu
Server-side: Arc
CDN: N/A
Flickr.com
Web Server: Apache 2.0.x
Server-side: PHP and Varnish Cache
CDN: N/A
Wikipedia.com
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: PHP w/ Varnish Cache
CDN: N/A
Myspace.com
Web Server: Microsoft IIS
Server-side: Cold Fusion Markup
CDN: Akamai
Intel.com
Web Server: Microsoft IIS 6.0
Server-side: Java Server Pages
CDN: N/A
Youtube.com
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: Python
CDN: Akamai
Craigslist.org
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: Python
CDN: Akamai
Ask.com
Web Server: Apache 2.2.x
Server-side: Unknown
CDN: Akamai
CIA.gov
Web Server: Apache 2.2.x
Server-side: Jetspeed / Java (EIP)
CDN: N/A
Adobe.com
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: Cold Fusion Markup
CDN: Akamai
Ebay.com
Web Server: Apache Tomcat / IIS
Server-side: Java
CDN:N/A
Twitter.com
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: Scala JVM / Ruby / Varnish
CDN: N/A
Bankofamerica.com
Web Server: Sun One Web Server
Server-side: Java with BigIP LB
CDN: N/A
NASA.gov
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: PHP (Joomla)
CDN: Akamai
Oracle.com
Web Server: Oracle-Application-Server Oracle-Web-Cache
Server-side: Java Server Pages
CDN: Akamai w/ BigIP
Technorati.com
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: PHP
CDN: Edgecast CDN (Varnish Cache)
IBM.com
Web Server: IBM_HTTP_Server (Apache based)
Server-side: FastCGI
CDN: N/A
AMD.com
Web Server: Microsoft IIS/6
Server-side: ASP.NET
CDN: Akamai
FBI.gov
Web Server: Apache 2.2.x
Server-side: Python (Plone CMS)
CDN: Akamai
SANS.org
Web Server: Apache
Server-side: PHP
CDN: N/A
Leave a Reply