February 29, 2024

What are some features and configurations of Nginx?

Here are twenty advanced features that you can configure with Nginx, along with example syntax for each feature:

Reverse Proxy:

location / {
    proxy_pass http://backend_server;
}

Load Balancing:

upstream backend {
    server backend1.example.com;
    server backend2.example.com;
}

server {
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

SSL/TLS Termination:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate /path/to/certificate.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/certificate.key;
}

API Routing:

location /api/ {
    proxy_pass http://api_server;
}

Multiple Websites:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example1.com;
    root /var/www/example1;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example2.com;
    root /var/www/example2;
}

Access Control:

location / {
    allow 192.168.1.0/24;
    deny all;
}

URL Rewriting:

rewrite ^/old-url$ /new-url permanent;

Caching:

proxy_cache_path /path/to/cache levels=1:2 keys_zone=my_cache:10m;

server {
    location / {
        proxy_cache my_cache;
        proxy_cache_valid 200 60m;
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

Compression:

gzip on;
gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript;

Rate Limiting:

limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=mylimit:10m rate=10r/s;

server {
    location / {
        limit_req zone=mylimit burst=20;
    }
}

HTTP/2 Support:

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    ssl_certificate /path/to/certificate.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/certificate.key;
}

WebSocket Proxying:

location /websocket/ {
    proxy_pass http://websocket_server;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
}

Basic Authentication:

location / {
    auth_basic "Restricted";
    auth_basic_user_file /path/to/htpasswd;
}

IP Whitelisting:

location / {
    allow 192.168.1.0/24;
    allow 10.0.0.0/8;
    deny all;
}

Request Limiting:

limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=mylimit:10m rate=1r/s;

server {
    location / {
        limit_req zone=mylimit burst=5;
    }
}

Logging:

access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

Redirect:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name old-domain.com;
    return 301 $scheme://new-domain.com$request_uri;
}

Upstream Health Checks:

upstream backend {
    server backend1.example.com;
    server backend2.example.com;
    health_check;
}

server {
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

SSL/TLS Stapling:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate /path/to/certificate.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/certificate.key;
    ssl_stapling on;
    ssl_stapling_verify on;
}

Proxy Buffering:

server {
    location / {
        proxy_buffering on;
        proxy_buffer_size 16k;
        proxy_buffers 4 32k;
        proxy_busy_buffers_size 64k;
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

These are just a few examples of the advanced features you can configure with Nginx. Nginx provides a powerful and flexible configuration language that allows you to customize and optimize your web server setup according to your specific requirements.