Nginx – Web Server and Reverse Proxy

Nginx is a high-performance HTTP server and reverse proxy, as well as an IMAP/POP3 proxy server. Known for its stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption, Nginx powers a significant portion of the busiest websites on the internet. It excels as a web server, load balancer, reverse proxy, and HTTP cache.

Key Features

• Event-Driven Architecture – Handles thousands of concurrent connections efficiently
• Reverse Proxy – Proxy HTTP, TCP, and UDP traffic
• Load Balancing – Distribute traffic across multiple backends
• SSL/TLS Termination – Handle HTTPS encryption
• Static Content – Serve static files with high performance
• Caching – Built-in content caching
• HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 – Modern protocol support

Installation

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install nginx

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install nginx

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S nginx

Basic Configuration

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.conf
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    root /var/www/html;
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

# Reverse proxy configuration
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name api.example.com;
    
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Use Cases

Nginx is ideal for web serving, reverse proxying, load balancing, API gateway, media streaming, and as a high-performance frontend for application servers.

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