thanks igor and maxim. the proxy stuff is not working for me but i am so liking the nginx server that i will follow your advice to not care about mod security so much and just do application level checking in php.

my question: is there a simple guide to get php working on nginx when it is already installed and running with apache as mod_php on the server? while testing nginx i dont want to break already working functionality.

there are online guides for "fastcgi" but they are all different and sometimes old syntax so they are confusing. is there a recommended official config file that will cover the best practice for a production server, including:

1. static files be served with "expires" or etags etc
2. php with all the modules installed on my server (memcache, etc)
3. secure php

i want to now just try nginx running on server:81 port and see if it can do *everything* that apache does, if i move some of the functionality to my php application (such as checking RBLs etc).

thanks so much.