In the WebSphere Application Server product, an Application Server works with a Web server to handle requests for Web applications. The Application Server and Web server communicate using a WebSphere HTTP plug-in for the Web server.
If you specify a Web server when installing the WebSphere Application Server product, the installation program changes the Web server configuration file automatically to establish a plug-in.
You do not need a Web server plug-in or Web server to start the application server or the administrative console. In a test or development environment, you can use the internal HTTP transport instead of the Web server plug-in and Web server. But, for performance reasons, you must use a Web server plug-in and Web server in a production environment.
The WebSphere Application Server documentation provides information on plug-ins but does not provide information on administering Web servers. To learn how to administer your Web server, refer to documentation for your Web server.