can i run nginx caching and http server on same box?(newbie)

[anco]

can i run nginx caching and http server on same box?

can i set caching per directory and/or per server block?

how can i check what is actually being cached? logs?

should i place php scripts outside root location?

disclosure: newbie here aiming to ask the right questions(i have lots of
them, the above should get me started).

thanks

Posted at Nginx Forum: http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,242644,242644#msg-242644