NGINX HTTP Server: Harness the power of NGINX with a series of detailed tutorials and real-life examples. 5 Ed

Preface xiii
Part 1: Begin with NGINX
1
Downloading and Installing NGINX....3
Installing NGINX via package
managers....4
NGINX-provided packages....4
Compiling NGINX from source....5
Installing GNU Compiler Collection....6
The PCRE library....7
The zlib library....7
OpenSSL....8
Downloading and compiling the NGINX source code....8
Websites and resources....9
Version branches....10
Features....10
Downloading and extracting....11
Exploring the options for configuring the compilation....11
The easy way....12
Path options....12
Build configuration issues....13
Compiling and installing....14
Controlling the NGINX service....15
Daemons and services....15
Users and groups....15
NGINX command-line switches....16
Starting and stopping the daemon....16
Testing the configuration....17
Other switches....18
Adding NGINX as a system service....18
systemd unit file....18
Handling system errors....20
A quick overview of the possibilities offered by NGINX Plus....20
Summary....21
2
Basic NGINX Configuration....23
Delving into the configuration file
syntax....23
Configuration directives....24
Organization and inclusions....26
Directive blocks....27
Advanced language rules....29
Looking at the base module directives....31
What are base modules?....31
NGINX process architecture....31
Core module directives....32
The events module....38
Configuration module....40
Necessary adjustments....40
Testing your server....41
Creating a test server....41
Upgrading NGINX gracefully....43
Summary....43
Part 2: Dive into NGINX
3
Exploring the HTTP Configuration....47
An introduction to the HTTP core
module and its three new blocks....47
Exploring the HTTP core module
directives....49
Socket and host configuration....50
Paths and documents....53
Client requests....57
MIME types....62
Limits and restrictions....64
File processing and caching....67
Other directives....69
Exploring the directives of HTTP/2....73
http2_chunk_size....74
http2_body_preread_size....74
http2_idle_timeout....74
http2_max_concurrent_streams....74
http2_max_field_size....74
http2_max_header_size....75
http2_max_requests....75
http2_recv_buffer_size....75
http2_recv_timeout....75
Module variables....76
Exploring the variables introduced
by the HTTP core module....76
Request headers....76
Response headers....77
NGINX-generated headers....78
Understanding and exploring the
location block....80
Location modifier....80
Search order and priority....83
Summary....86
4
Exploring Module Configuration in NGINX....87
Exploring the Rewrite module....87
Reminder of regular expressions....88
Internal requests....93
Conditional structure....98
Directives....100
Common rewrite rules....103
Looking at some additional modules....105
Website access and logging....105
Limits and restrictions....109
Content and encoding....113
About your visitors....125
SSL and security....131
Other miscellaneous and optional modules....136
Summary....138
5
PHP and Python with NGINX....139
Introduction to FastCGI
technologies....139
Understanding the CGI mechanism....140
CGI....141
FastCGI....142
uWSGI and SCGI....143
Main directives....144
FastCGI caching and buffering....150
PHP with NGINX....151
Architecture....152
PHP-FPM....152
Setting up PHP and PHP-FPM....152
NGINX configuration....154
Python and NGINX....155
Django....155
Setting up Python and Django....156
NGINX configuration....157
Summary....158
6
NGINX as a Reverse Proxy....159
Exploring the reverse proxy
mechanism....159
Exploring the NGINX proxy module....160
Main directives....161
Caching, buffering, and temporary files....164
Limits, timeouts, and errors....168
Other directives....170
Variables....172
Looking at NGINX and
microservices....172
Summary....173
Part 3: NGINX in Action
7
Introduction to Load Balancing and Optimization....177
Introducing load balancing....177
Understanding the concept of load balancing....178
Session affinity....179
The upstream module....180
Request distribution mechanisms....182
Using NGINX as a TCP/UDP load
balancer....183
The stream module....184
An example of MySQL load balancing....184
Exploring thread pools and I/O
mechanisms....185
Relieving worker processes....185
AIO, Sendfile, and DirectIO....186
Summary....187
8
NGINX within a Cloud Infrastructure....189
Understanding cloud infrastructure....190
The traditional approach....190
The cloud approach....190
Using Docker....192
Installing Docker....192
Your first Docker container....192
Simplifying with Docker Compose....193
Setting up NGINX inside Docker....194
Integrating PHP with NGINX using Docker
Compose....195
Setting up NGINX inside Docker to
proxy host applications....197
Summary....198
9
Fully Deploy, Manage, and Auto-Update NGINX with Ansible....199
Understanding configuration
management....199
Running your first Ansible playbook....200
Setting up NGINX using Ansible....202
Setting up automatic updates using
Ansible....203
Summary....204
10
Case Studies....205
Exploring SSL Certificates and
HTTPS by default....206
Certificate Management with acme.sh....206
acme.sh and the DNS API....207
Issuing a signed certificate....208
Centralizing SSL Configuration with NGINX....208
Implementing HTTP/2 with SSL....209
Deploying a WordPress site....209
Preparing your server and obtaining
WordPress....209
NGINX configuration....212
WordPress configuration....215
Deploying Nextcloud....217
Getting Nextcloud....217
Summary....219
11
Troubleshooting....221
Looking at some general tips on
NGINX troubleshooting....221
Checking access permissions....222
Testing your configuration....222
Have you reloaded the service?....222
Checking logs....223
Installing a log parser....223
Troubleshooting install issues....225
Looking at the 403 forbidden custom
error page....226
Exploring 400 Bad Request....227
Looking at truncated or invalid
FastCGI responses....227
Exploring location block priorities....228
Looking at if block issues....228
Inefficient statements....228
Unexpected behavior....229
Summary....230
Index....231
Other Books You May Enjoy....240

Explore the capabilities of NGINX, a robust HTTP server designed for handling high-traffic websites, with network scalability as its primary objective. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced administrator, this NGINX book will guide you through the complete process of setting up this lightweight HTTP server, from quick and basic configurations to more detailed configurations tailored to your needs. Highlighting the latest version 1.25.2, featuring new features such as HTTP/3 and QUIC, this edition keeps you up to date with cutting-edge developments.

This book is packed with a multitude of real-world examples, which will help you secure your infrastructure with automatic TLS certificates, expertly place NGINX in front of your existing applications, and do much more. From orchestration and Docker to bandwidth management, OpenResty, and NGINX Plus commercial features, you’ll get to grips with enhancing and optimizing your infrastructure or designing brand-new architecture. Moreover, this updated edition will show you how NGINX excels in cloud environments with guides on integrating NGINX with cloud services for deploying scalable architectures efficiently and securely.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to adapt and use a wide variety of NGINX implementations to tackle diverse challenges with confidence.

What you will learn

• Install and configure a basic setup for NGINX and test it out

• Discover the core functionality of the HTTP module as well as third-party modules

• Understand how to set up NGINX to work with PHP, Python, and other applications

• Optimize your architecture with threads or load balancing

• Configure NGINX with orchestration and work in a Docker environment

• Identify errors in configuration and grasp basic troubleshooting techniques

Who this book is for

This book is for beginners and web administrators looking to master the powerful and secure NGINX HTTP server. Whether you want to replace your existing web server software or integrate a new tool to collaborate with applications that are already up and running, this book will help you achieve your goals. To get started, all you need is access to a Linux server and a basic understanding of web server concepts.