> compared to apache where a separate process is spawned
That's not how Apache works. If your glibc is >= 2.3.2 (we're talking 2004 or newer) the default mode is epoll ("event" MPM), otherwise you will get a threadpool ("worker" MPM), and failing that you will get a processpool ("prefork" MPM).
It will never spawn a process to handle a request, unless you forcibly enable prefork mode with a pool size of 1.
Sure, I agree that my knowledge about Apache internals might be severely outdated. And I can't really blame Apache either because it's a very small box, in a larger one it might have quickly stabilized
That's not how Apache works. If your glibc is >= 2.3.2 (we're talking 2004 or newer) the default mode is epoll ("event" MPM), otherwise you will get a threadpool ("worker" MPM), and failing that you will get a processpool ("prefork" MPM).
It will never spawn a process to handle a request, unless you forcibly enable prefork mode with a pool size of 1.