Currently I try to improve the performance of my Play! application and i'm thinking about how to handle multiple instances (Scaleability) in future. The application should run with SSL.
Now I read: https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.4.x/HTTPServer
It states:
Note that using a front end HTTP server will rarely give you better performance than using Play server directly. However, HTTP servers are very good at handling HTTPS, conditional GET requests and static assets, and many services assume a front end HTTP server is part of your architecture.
Does that mean that it would be a good idea to run the Play! app just as HTTP server (not HTTPS) and put a lighthttpd in front, configured for SSL, which acts as a proxy for the Play! app?
In very general yes, you can use frontend HTTP server for several purposes and minimize stress on your application, there's no reason to handle i.e. requests to static and public assets, as probably HTTP server will do it faster and/or better, that way your app will handle only traffic which is required to be handled by app.
Further, you can also use FE server as a load balancer and divide stress put on single app - to several instances even on separate machines.