Comprehensive Nginx Configuration Guide: HTTP Server, Static Server, Reverse Proxy, Load Balancing, and Advanced Directives

Nginx can serve static resources directly; when a site consists only of static pages, placing the files under the document root (e.g., Docroot(/usr/local/var/www) ) and creating an html directory with test.html enables simple deployment.

Configuration of the server block is done in nginx.conf . A minimal example:

user  mengday  staff;
http {
    server {
        listen       80;
        server_name  localhost;
        client_max_body_size 1024M;
        # default location
        location / {
            root   /usr/local/var/www/html;
            index  index.html index.htm;
        }
    }
}

Testing the setup involves accessing http://localhost/ (which maps to /usr/local/var/www/index.html ) and http://localhost/test.html (which maps to /usr/local/var/www/html/test.html ).

Common location directives include:

server : defines a virtual server; multiple server blocks can exist.

listen : specifies IP address and port.

server_name : sets the domain name.

location : maps URI patterns to configuration blocks; can use exact match (=), prefix (^~), regular expression (~, ~*), or generic (/).

root : defines the filesystem path for static files.

index : specifies default index files.

Regular‑expression symbols for location patterns are explained (e.g., . , ? , + , * , \d , ^ , $ , {n} , [a‑z] , (a|b|c) , \ ).

Static server configuration often involves creating separate directories for images and other assets, then using location blocks such as:

location / {
    root   /usr/local/var/www/html;
    index  index.html index.htm;
}
location ^~ /images/ {
    root $doc_root;
}
location ~* \.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico|swf|css|js)$ {
    root $doc_root/img;
}

Reverse proxy is implemented with proxy_pass . Example forwarding all traffic to a Java web app on port 8081:

server {
    listen       80;
    server_name  localhost;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8081;
        proxy_set_header Host $host:$server_port;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503;
    }
}

Load balancing uses the upstream directive. Several strategies are covered:

Round‑robin (default): upstream web_servers { server localhost:8081; server localhost:8082; }

Weight: upstream test { server localhost:8081 weight=1; server localhost:8082 weight=3; server localhost:8083 weight=4 backup; }

IP hash: upstream test { ip_hash; server localhost:8080; server localhost:8081; }

Third‑party fair and url_hash modules for response‑time‑based or request‑URI‑based distribution.

Dynamic‑static separation combines reverse proxy and static file handling in one server block, routing static assets to a dedicated root and proxying other requests to the backend.

Additional useful directives:

return – sends a status code and optional redirect URL.

rewrite – modifies the request URI using regular expressions.

error_page – defines custom error pages.

log_format and access_log – configure request logging.

deny – blocks access to specified locations.

Various built‑in variables (e.g., $args , $remote_addr , $request_uri ) are listed for reference.

The article concludes with a reminder to share the content and join the community for further learning.