Ferron - a fast, modern, and easily configurable web server with automatic TLS

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Why Ferron?

• High performance - thoroughly optimized for speed with support for high concurrency.
• Memory-safe - built with Rust, which is a programming language that can offer strong memory safety guarantees.
• Automatic TLS - automatic SSL/TLS certificate acquisition and renewal with Let's Encrypt integration.
• Easy configuration - simple, intuitive configuration with sensible, secure defaults and comprehensive documentation.
• Extensibility - modular architecture for easy customization.
• Powerful reverse proxy - advanced reverse proxy capabilities with support for load balancing and health checks.

Installing Ferron from pre-built binaries

The easiest way to install Ferron is installing it from pre-built binaries.

Below are the different ways to install Ferron:

• Installer (GNU/Linux)
• Installer (Windows Server)
• Package managers (Debian/Ubuntu)
• Package managers (RHEL/Fedora)
• Docker
• Package managers (community)
• Manual installation

Configuration examples

Basic static file serving

// Example configuration with static file serving. Replace "example.com" with your domain name.
example.com {
    root "/var/www/html" // Replace "/var/www/html" with the directory containing your static files
}

Basic reverse proxying

// Example configuration with reverse proxy. Replace "example.com" with your domain name.
example.com {
    proxy "http://localhost:3000/" // Replace "http://localhost:3000" with the backend server URL
}

More examples

You can find more configuration examples for common use cases in the Ferron documentation.

Building Ferron from source

You can clone the repository and explore the existing code:

git clone https://github.com/ferronweb/ferron.git
cd ferron

You can then build and run the web server using Cargo:

cargo run --manifest-path build/prepare/Cargo.toml
cd build/workspace
cargo update # If you experience crate conflicts
cargo build -r --target-dir ../../target
cd ..
cp configs/ferron.test.kdl ferron.kdl
target/release/ferron

You can also, for convenience, use make:

make build # Build the web server
make build-dev # Build the web server, for development and debugging
make run # Run the web server
make run-dev # Run the web server, for development and debugging
make smoketest # Perform a smoke test
make smoketest-dev # Perform a smoke test, for development and debugging
make package # Package the web server to a ZIP archive (run it after building it)
make package-deb # Package the web server to a Debian package (run it after building it)
make package-rpm # Package the web server to an RPM package (run it after building it)
make installer # Build installers for Ferron 2

Or a build.ps1 build script, if you're on Windows:

REM Build the web server
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 Build

REM Build the web server, for development and debugging
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 BuildDev

REM Run the web server
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 Run

REM Run the web server, for development and debugging
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 RunDev

REM Perform a smoke test
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 Smoketest

REM Perform a smoke test, for development and debugging
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 SmoketestDev

REM Package the web server to a ZIP archive (run it after building it)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 Package

REM Build installers for Ferron 2
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 Installer

You can also create a ZIP archive that can be used by the Ferron installer:

make build-with-package

Or if you're on Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass .\build.ps1 BuildWithPackage

The ZIP archive will be located in the dist directory.

You can also cross-compile the web server for a different target:

# Replace "i686-unknown-linux-gnu" with the target (as defined by the Rust target triple) you want to build for
make build TARGET="i686-unknown-linux-gnu" CARGO_FINAL="cross"

It's also possible to use only Cargo to build the web server, although you wouldn't be able to use external modules:

cargo build -r
./target/release/ferron

For compilation notes, see the compilation notes page.

Modules

If you would like to develop Ferron modules, you can find the Ferron module development notes.

Server configuration

You can check the Ferron documentation to see configuration properties used by Ferron.

Contributing

See Ferron contribution page for details.

Below is a list of contributors to Ferron. Thank you to all of them!

License

Ferron is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.