NGINX is the perfect solution for system load balancing, as well as the ideal proxy solution to run web services via those machines through a host’s single public IP address. NGINX is particularly good because it manages static content extremely well. Additionally, it can manage and execute requests and host the static content way quicker, […]
NGINX is the perfect solution for system load balancing, as well as the ideal proxy solution to run web services via those machines through a host's single public IP address. NGINX is particularly good because it manages static content extremely well. Additionally, it can manage and execute requests and host the static content way quicker, making sure that your page loading time is effectively cut in half.
Another major advantage of NGINX is its compact memory footprint, optimizing servers to stretch out every megabyte. It allows for fast and seamless migration of services, like Apache, on to another server, and you can specify your server’s IP address and port via the configuration files.
The first step is to configure the Nginx service, using the following code:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
worker_processes 4;
pid /var/run/nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 768;
}
http {
sendfile on;
tcp_nopush on;
tcp_nodelay on;
keepalive_timeout 65;
types_hash_max_size 2048;
include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
gzip on;
gzip_disable "msie6";
gzip_min_length 1100;
gzip_buffers 4 32k;
gzip_types text/plain application/x-javascript text/xml text/css;
open_file_cache max=10000 inactive=10m;
open_file_cache_valid 2m;
open_file_cache_min_uses 1;
open_file_cache_errors on;
ignore_invalid_headers on;
client_max_body_size 8m;
client_header_timeout 3m;
client_body_timeout 3m;
send_timeout 3m;
connection_pool_size 256;
client_header_buffer_size 4k;
large_client_header_buffers 4 32k;
request_pool_size 4k;
output_buffers 4 32k;
postpone_output 1460;
include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}
Entering the above code gives your server a unique configuration that will help you drastically increase your site’s loading speed. NGINX will now host the static content such as CSS, JS files, images, HTML, and so on. Consequently, the dynamic files within your site will be managed by the web server. NGINX will listen on HTTP port 80 (default), while the server needs to be configured to port 8080.
Once you’ve modified the ports, you’ll have to create a new virtual host file. Here’s how you can do it for the CentOS & Debian OS, respectively:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/newdomain.com.conf
server {
listen 80;
server_name newdomain.com www.newdomain.com;
access_log off;
error_log /var/log/httpd/newdomain.com-error_log crit;
location ~* .(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|ico|wmv|3gp|avi|mpg|mpeg|mp4|flv|mp3|mid|js|css|html|htm|wml)$ {
root /var/www/html/newdomain.com;
expires max;
}
location / {
client_max_body_size 10m;
client_body_buffer_size 128k;
proxy_send_timeout 90;
proxy_read_timeout 90;
proxy_buffer_size 128k;
proxy_buffers 4 256k;
proxy_busy_buffers_size 256k;
proxy_temp_file_write_size 256k;
proxy_connect_timeout 30s;
proxy_redirect https://www.newdomain.com:8080 ;
proxy_redirect https://newdomain.com:8080 ;
proxy_pass ;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
}
For Debian/Ubuntu:
In order to create a new virtual host file on Ubuntu, first open the nginx configuration file and modify the code inside to reflect the illustration below:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
worker_processes 4;
pid /var/run/nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 768;
}
http {
sendfile on;
tcp_nopush on;
tcp_nodelay on;
keepalive_timeout 65;
types_hash_max_size 2048;
include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
gzip on;
gzip_disable "msie6";
gzip_min_length 1100;
gzip_buffers 4 32k;
gzip_types text/plain application/x-javascript text/xml text/css;
open_file_cache max=10000 inactive=10m;
open_file_cache_valid 2m;
open_file_cache_min_uses 1;
open_file_cache_errors on;
ignore_invalid_headers on;
client_max_body_size 8m;
client_header_timeout 3m;
client_body_timeout 3m;
send_timeout 3m;
connection_pool_size 256;
client_header_buffer_size 4k;
large_client_header_buffers 4 32k;
request_pool_size 4k;
output_buffers 4 32k;
postpone_output 1460;
include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}
Creating the new virtual host file:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourwebsite.com.conf
server {
listen 80;
server_name newdomain.com www.newdomain.com;
access_log off;
error_log /var/log/apache2/newdomain.com-error_log crit;
location ~* .(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|ico|wmv|3gp|avi|mpg|mpeg|mp4|flv|mp3|mid|js|css|html|htm|wml)$ {
root /var/www/newdomain.com;
expires 30d;
}
location / {
client_max_body_size 10m;
client_body_buffer_size 128k;
proxy_send_timeout 90;
proxy_read_timeout 90;
proxy_buffer_size 128k;
proxy_buffers 4 256k;
proxy_busy_buffers_size 256k;
proxy_temp_file_write_size 256k;
proxy_connect_timeout 30s;
proxy_redirect https://www.newdomain.com:8080 ;
proxy_redirect https://newdomain.com:8080 ;
proxy_pass ;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
}
Once completed, save the edited file and copy them into the “sites-enabled” folder.
Sudo cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourwebsite.com.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/yourwebsite.com.conf
Open the Apache configuration file and set the values to the following:
sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Set the Apache port to 8080
Listen: 8080
NameVirtualHost *:8080 ;
Once that’s done, add the following lines of code at the very end of your file:
ServerAdmin webmaster@newdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/newdomain.com
ServerName newdomain.com
ServerAlias www.newdomain.com
ErrorLog logs/newdomain.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/newdomain.com-access_log common
In case you have a subdomain, you’ll have to add a new server if you expect Nginx to host your site’s static files. Your subdomain might only host static files, in which case you won’t have to setup a proxy_pass server:
server {
listen 80;
server_name subdomain.example.com;
error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
location = /50x.html {
root /var/www/nginx-default;
}
access_log /var/www/subdomain.example.com/log/nginx.access.log;
error_log /var/www/subdomain.example.com/log/nginx.error.log;
index index.html;
location / {
expires max;
root /var/www/subdomain.example.com/htdocs/;
}
}
The critical variables in this execution are:
On Ubuntu, you’ll first have to configure the Apache service file so that it listens on port 8080:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf
Once you access the service, just change the default port values from 80 to 8080. Just would also want to change the listen line and modify it to 127.0.0.1:8080 as it will prevent the apache server from receiving external requests. And even if you’re not worried about external access, you should block port 8080 just to be safe.
NameVirtualHost *:8080
Listen 8080
Once you’ve modified the file, make sure to save all your changes and the close the file.
The next file you’ll have to modify is:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
Repeat the same operation within the file and set the port 8080, as default. Once that’s done, save and close the file.
Once the Web server has been configured, you have to create a file that will contain the settings for your virtual host:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/newdomain.com.conf
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName newdomain.com
ServerAlias www.newdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/newdomain.com
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
After you’ve made the changes, copy the entire code onto this location:
sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/newdomain.com.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/
Now that you have both services configured with the settings that will enable them to be connected, restart both NGINX and Apache so that the changes are permanently applied:
For CentOS 6.4:
sudo /etc/init.d/httpd restart
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
If you want to check whether the changes have been implemented and that they are working, the first thing you should do is open a web page on your site and look for any signs for errors. Alternately, you can also view the logs of Apache and Nginx, which should contain the PHP request data and your assets, respectively. Your Apache (Web Server) logs should also need to contain a HTTP 1.0 request when accessing the reverse proxy.
You can test the functionality of the reverse proxy service using the following command:
curl -I
The response should look something like this:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/0.7.67
Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 09:02:43 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 21
Last-Modified: Thu, 22 May 2014 14:35:05 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
Expires: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 09:02:43 GMT
Cache-Control: max-age=259200
Accept-Ranges: bytes
sudo nano info.php
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
This should be the data displayed on the PHP info page:
Server API
Apache 2.0 Handler
ip addr show eth0|grep inet|awk '{print $2}'|cut -d / -f1
