Nginx is a high-performance HTTP and reverse proxy server that can be used for load balancing, caching, rate limiting, and more. Below are some commonly used Nginx configurations.
Table of Contents
Static Resource Server
Below is a configuration example for serving static files with Nginx:
server {
listen 80;
server_name www.example.com;
# Static resource root directory
root /var/www/html;
# Default index files
index index.html index.htm;
# Main location block: directly serve the requested static file; if not found, return 404
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
# For images, CSS, JavaScript and other static resources, set cache control
location ~* .(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js)$ {
expires 30d;
add_header Cache-Control "public";
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
}Nginx SSL Configuration
server {
# Listen on port 443 with SSL and HTTP/2 enabled
listen 443 ssl http2;
# Server name
server_name example.com;
# Paths to SSL certificate and private key
ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/example.com.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/example.com.key;
# SSL session cache settings
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:1m;
ssl_session_timeout 5m;
# SSL protocols and cipher suites configuration
ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
# Enable OCSP Stapling
ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;
resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 valid=300s;
resolver_timeout 5s;
location / {
# All requests are proxied to http://localhost:8080
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
# Use HTTP/1.1 protocol
proxy_http_version 1.1;
# Set Upgrade header for WebSocket support
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
# Set Connection header for WebSocket support
proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
}
}Nginx Cache Configuration
# Define the cache path and parameters for proxy caching.
# proxy_cache_path /data/nginx/cache: the path where cached files are stored.
# levels=1:2: defines a two-level directory structure for caching.
# keys_zone=my_cache:10m: allocates a shared memory zone named "my_cache" with 10MB size to store cache keys and metadata.
# max_size=10g: sets the maximum cache size to 10GB.
# inactive=60m: defines the expiration time; if a cached file is not accessed within this period, it will be removed.
# use_temp_path=off: disables temporary file storage, meaning cache files are written directly to the specified path.
proxy_cache_path /data/nginx/cache levels=1:2 keys_zone=my_cache:10m max_size=10g inactive=60m use_temp_path=off;
server {
listen 80;
server_name www.example.com;
location / {
# Name of the proxy cache is "my_cache"
proxy_cache my_cache;
# Responses with status 200 and 304 are cached for 12 hours
proxy_cache_valid 200 304 12h;
# Responses with status 301 and 302 are cached for 1 day
proxy_cache_valid 301 302 1d;
# All other responses are cached for 1 minute
proxy_cache_valid any 1m;
# Set the cache key format including the host, URI, and query string
proxy_cache_key $host$uri$is_args$args;
# Specify the backend server address
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080/;
}
}Nginx Rate Limiting Configuration
# Define a new rate limiting zone "my_limit" with 10MB, limiting each client's request rate to 1 request per second.
# $binary_remote_addr represents the client's IP address.
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=my_limit:10m rate=1r/s;
server {
listen 80;
server_name www.example.com;
location / {
# Proxy all HTTP requests to http://localhost:8080 and limit each client to 1 request per second,
# allowing a burst of up to 5 requests without delay.
limit_req zone=my_limit burst=5 nodelay;
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
}
}Reverse Proxy Server Configuration
Basic Reverse Proxy
Proxy all requests to a backend service:
server {
listen 80;
# Server block: handles requests when the Host header matches
server_name www.example.com;
# Define a location block matching all URLs
location / {
# All requests in this location block are proxied to http://localhost:8080
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
}
} Reverse Proxy with Common Headers
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
# Enable gzip compression
gzip on;
# Set minimum file size for gzip compression (1KB)
gzip_min_length 1024;
# Set gzip compression level (1-9, with 6 as a compromise)
gzip_comp_level 6;
# Specify file types to be compressed
gzip_types text/plain application/xml application/json application/javascript text/css;
# Enable Vary header to make compression conditional based on Accept-Encoding
gzip_vary on;
location / {
root /html;
}
# It is recommended to end the location with a slash.
location /api/ {
# With trailing slash, the backend URI will not append the location string
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080/;
# Set the Host header to the client's request host
proxy_set_header Host $host;
# Set the X-Real-IP header to the client's IP address
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
# Set the X-Forwarded-For header with the client and proxy IP addresses
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
# Example:
# Browser request: http://domain.com/api/test.do
# Backend request: http://localhost:8080/test.do
location /api2/ {
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080/api2/;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
# If the backend URI requires the location path, explicit configuration is needed.
# Browser request: http://domain.com/api2/test.do
# Backend request: http://localhost:8080/api2/test.do
}Reverse Proxy with WebSocket Support
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
location / {
root /html;
}
location /api/ {
proxy_pass http://localhost:8080/;
# Use HTTP/1.1 protocol
proxy_http_version 1.1;
# Set Upgrade header for WebSocket connections
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
# Set Connection header for WebSocket connections
proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
}
}Reverse Proxy with Load Balancing
http {
upstream backend {
# Uncomment ip_hash for session persistence if needed
# ip_hash;
server backend1.example.com;
server backend2.example.com;
server backend3.example.com;
}
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
location / {
root /html;
}
location /api/ {
# Uncomment if you need to limit client request body size (e.g., 20M)
# client_max_body_size 20M;
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
}