Configure Nginx

Set up Nginx as a web server and reverse proxy with SSL termination and security hardening.

When to Use

• Serving static files (HTML, CSS, JS) in production
• Reverse proxying to backend services (Node.js, Python, Go, R/Shiny)
• Terminating SSL/TLS with Let's Encrypt certificates
• Load balancing across multiple backend instances
• Adding rate limiting and security headers

Inputs

• Required: Deployment target (Docker container or bare metal)
• Required: Backend service(s) to proxy (host:port)
• Optional: Domain name for SSL
• Optional: Static file directory

Procedure

Step 1: Basic Reverse Proxy

nginx.conf:

events {
    worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
    upstream app {
        server app:3000;
    }

    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name example.com;

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://app;
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        }
    }
}

Docker Compose service:

services:
  nginx:
    image: nginx:1.27-alpine
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
    depends_on:
      - app

Expected: Requests to port 80 are forwarded to the app service.

Step 2: Static File Serving

server {
    listen 80;
    root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
    }

    location /assets/ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff2?)$ {
        expires 6M;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }
}

Step 3: SSL/TLS with Let's Encrypt

Using certbot with the webroot method:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location /.well-known/acme-challenge/ {
        root /var/www/certbot;
    }

    location / {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    }
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://app;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Docker Compose with certbot:

services:
  nginx:
    image: nginx:1.27-alpine
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
      - certbot-webroot:/var/www/certbot:ro
      - certbot-certs:/etc/letsencrypt:ro

  certbot:
    image: certbot/certbot
    volumes:
      - certbot-webroot:/var/www/certbot
      - certbot-certs:/etc/letsencrypt

volumes:
  certbot-webroot:
  certbot-certs:

Initial certificate:

docker compose run --rm certbot certonly \
  --webroot -w /var/www/certbot \
  -d example.com --email admin@example.com --agree-tos

Expected: HTTPS works with valid Let's Encrypt certificate.

On failure: Check DNS points to the server. Verify port 80 is open for ACME challenges.

Step 4: Security Headers

server {
    # ... SSL config above ...

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
    add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains" always;
    add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" always;

    # Hide Nginx version
    server_tokens off;
}

Step 5: Rate Limiting

http {
    # Define rate limit zones
    limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=api:10m rate=10r/s;
    limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=login:10m rate=1r/s;

    server {
        location /api/ {
            limit_req zone=api burst=20 nodelay;
            proxy_pass http://app;
        }

        location /login {
            limit_req zone=login burst=5;
            proxy_pass http://app;
        }
    }
}

Step 6: Load Balancing

upstream app {
    least_conn;
    server app1:3000;
    server app2:3000;
    server app3:3000 backup;
}

Method	Directive	Behavior
Round robin	(default)	Equal distribution
Least connections	least_conn	Routes to least busy
IP hash	ip_hash	Sticky sessions
Weighted	server app:3000 weight=3	Proportional

Step 7: Test Configuration

# Test config syntax
docker compose exec nginx nginx -t

# Reload without downtime
docker compose exec nginx nginx -s reload

# Check response headers
curl -I https://example.com

Expected: nginx -t reports syntax OK. Headers include security headers.

Validation

• nginx -t reports configuration is valid
• HTTP redirects to HTTPS (if SSL enabled)
• Backend service is reachable through the proxy
• Security headers present in response
• Rate limiting triggers on excessive requests
• SSL Labs test gives A+ rating (if public)

Common Pitfalls

• Missing proxy_set_header Host: Backend receives wrong host header, breaking virtual hosts and redirects.
• location order matters: Nginx uses the most specific match. Exact (=) > prefix (^~) > regex (~) > general prefix.
• SSL certificate renewal: Set up a cron or timer to run certbot renew and reload Nginx.
• Large request bodies: Default client_max_body_size is 1MB. Increase for file uploads: client_max_body_size 50m;.
• WebSocket proxying: Requires additional headers. See configure-reverse-proxy for the pattern.

Related Skills

• configure-reverse-proxy - multi-tool proxy patterns including WebSocket and Traefik
• setup-compose-stack - compose stack that includes Nginx
• deploy-searxng - uses Nginx as frontend for SearXNG
• configure-ingress-networking - Kubernetes ingress (NGINX Ingress Controller)