Setup Nginx Server

Setup a proxy server, a load balancer and a reverse proxy based on Nginx.

Installation

Get a copy of the latest stable release from the official download page.

Default directory - Linux: /etc/nginx.\ Default directory - Windows: X:/nginx.

You can find a sample get started template here along with predefined minimum configuration.

Configuration

conf

conf/nginx.conf

Nginx root configuration file.

user

Provide a user, e.g. www, without sudo priviliges and a group with the same name to be used by the server worker processes.

Bases

conf/bases

Includes Nginx root and server block configuration following best practices from Nginx and the community.

A base file is a way to centralize common and reusable configurations.

Upstreams

conf/upstreams

Defined list of hosts available to proxy requests and for load balancing; upstreams are loaded in server blocks by configuring proxy_pass key within a location.

Sites

List of server blocks used to listen to and proxy incoming requests. Sites are loaded in Nginx root config file.

conf/sites-available: Inactive

domain.com.conf

A server block template suitable for use in production environments.

http-to-https.conf

A server block to redirect non-https connections to https.

non-to-www.conf

A server block to redirect root domain connections to www.

conf/sites-enabled: Active

sites-enabled/domain.dev.conf

A server block template suitable for use in development environments.

SSL

To serve secure connections over HTTPS, SSL certificates and keys should be generated; update server block ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key paths as needed.

Default directory: /etc/ssl/private, /etc/ssl/certs.

Static Files

To serve static files, update sites-enabled server block location/root key to point to the stored static files location path.

Default directory - Linux: /usr/share/nginx/html.\ Default directory - Windows: X:/nginx/html.