#atom

High-performance HTTP server, reverse proxy, and load balancer

Core Idea: Nginx is an open-source web server that excels at handling concurrent connections efficiently through an event-driven, asynchronous architecture, making it ideal for high-traffic websites, API services, and as a reverse proxy.

Key Elements

• Core Capabilities

  • Static file serving with exceptional performance
  • Reverse proxy functionality
  • Load balancing with multiple algorithms
  • HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 support
  • SSL/TLS termination
  • Content caching
  • Event-driven, non-blocking architecture

• Technical Architecture

  • Worker processes with master-worker model
  • Single-threaded but asynchronous processing
  • Event-based connection handling
  • Small memory footprint
  • Modular design with dynamically loadable modules

• Common Configurations

  • Basic HTTP server
  • HTTPS server with SSL/TLS
  • Reverse proxy for application servers
  • Load balancer for distributed systems
  • API gateway
  • Static content acceleration
  • FastCGI/uWSGI server for dynamic languages

• Configuration Structure

  • Declarative configuration file syntax
  • Context-based configuration hierarchy
  • Server blocks for domain-based virtual hosting
  • Location blocks for path-based routing
  • Upstream blocks for backend server definitions
  • Include directive for modular configurations

• Performance Considerations

  • Worker process configuration
  • Connection pool sizing
  • Keepalive settings
  • Buffering and timeout configurations
  • Filesystem cache settings
  • Compression settings

Connections

• Related Concepts: Nginx Reverse Proxy Setup (specific use case), Load Balancing (feature), Event-driven Architecture (design pattern)
• Broader Context: Web Servers (category), HTTP Protocol (underlying technology)
• Applications: Cloud to VPS Migration (common component), Static Site Hosting (use case)
• Components: Web Caching (performance feature), SSL/TLS Configuration (security feature)

References

1. Official Nginx documentation: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
2. Nginx Admin Guide: https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/

#web-server #nginx #reverse-proxy #load-balancer

Connections:

Sources:

• From: Getting back to the EU from Google Cloud to Self-Hosted EU Infrastructure