Nginx

🧭 Nginx

[!info] Nginx is a high-performance open-source web server, reverse proxy, and application server.
It's widely used for serving static content, load balancing, SSL termination, and acting as a gateway to application services.

🌐 Project Homepage: Nginx Homepage
📚 Documentation: Nginx Unit Docs

🔍 Overview

• Type: Web Server / Reverse Proxy / Application Gateway

• Purpose: Serve static content, reverse proxy dynamic apps, terminate SSL, balance load

• Key Capabilities:

  • HTTP/2 and experimental HTTP/3 support

  • Custom logging, access control

  • Powerful location-based routing

  • SSL certificate management

🛠️ Features

• 🌐 HTTP/HTTPS server with static file hosting

• 🔀 Reverse proxy and load balancing

• 📜 Flexible configuration using nginx.conf

• 🔒 SSL termination and security headers

• 🧩 Modular architecture for custom extensions

• 🛠️ FastCGI, SCGI, uWSGI, and gRPC support

🏃 Getting Started

🧾 Basic Configuration

error_log logs/error.log;
error_log logs/debug.log debug;

listen 80;
listen 443 ssl http2;
listen 443 http3 reuseport; # experimental

server_name domain1.com *.domain1.com;

root /var/www/html/domain1;
index index.php;

[!tip] SSL Config
Nginx supports SSL out of the box — make sure to provide valid certificate and key files.

ssl_certificate cert.pem;
ssl_certificate_key cert.key;

🔧 Customization and Configuration

🧠 Header Manipulation

add_header Alt-svc '$http3=":443"; ma=86400'; # experimental

📂 Location Blocks

location / {
    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html index.htm;
}

location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
}

location ~ \.php$ {
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /scripts$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
}

[!warning] Always secure sensitive paths like .ht or backup files.

location ~ /\.ht {
    deny all;
}

🔁 Reverse Proxy

🔍 Show Client’s Real IP

server {
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:4000;

        # Preserve client IP info
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

[!tip]
Use proxy_set_header for proper header forwarding when using Nginx as a reverse proxy behind load balancers or CDNs.

🔄 Related

• Let's Encrypt — Free SSL certificate provider

• Docker — Frequently used with Nginx for containerized deployments

• Nginx Config Examples — Handy tool to generate configs

🌍 Explore More

• 🌐 Nginx Beginner’s Guide

• 🌐 Nginx Configuration Guide

• 🌐 Nginx GitHub

📚 Tags

• #Nginx

• #WebServer

• #ReverseProxy

• #LoadBalancing

• #SSL

• #HTTP3

• #FastCGI

• #DevOps