These requirements seem pretty arbitrary. Is your server, which depends on perl, SSL libs, and a bunch of modules, really more "standalone" than Apache and some perl code? I suspect the real meaning is something like "must be easy to install and not have any licensing fees."
Unfortunately, those requirements are almost word for word from the Aceptance Criteria document, written by someone who is not me :(
Is it really that important to use non-blocking I/O
Not at all. What is important is that all requests:
- are quickly, reliably accepted and serviced
- are done over SSL with peer cert auth
Additionally, this must work on Windows.
-David.