title: Application Server and Web Server running on same hardware/physical server
body: <p>I have a conceptual design question. I'm building an application/platform that will consist of a server, possibly running Apache Tomcat w/ a MySQL database, and several client applications (such as native iPhone apps, android apps, blackberry apps). Communication between the client applications and the server will be handled via SOAP, or XML-RPC (also trying to figure this out).</p>
  
  <p>All of the above I'm reasonably comfortable with, but the last part of my plan is to create web/browser based client interface to the platform. And this is where I run into my question, should I install Apache Web Server on my same physical server and build a PHP application that invokes RPC's on the Application Server (Tomcat, running on same physical machine)? Does this type of design pattern make sense? Or should I stick with one type of server software for all possible client applications, including the web/browser based application? Thanks!</p>