[dedward]

I know I'm not answering your question exactly.. but....

You're a beginner. Apache is fine for everything on proper hardware, until you get huge.

If you're worried about static content and growth, use a CDN if this is a business.

That said - I'd never heard of Cherokee. lighted is kinda dead- go with nginx. For load balancing, go with haproxy.

And don't forget to throw some good long-term caching of static content in addition to maybe varnish to speed thing sup even more.

Varnish + apache will probably do more for static content on adequate hardware for your needs.