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

Nginx can serve static resources directly; to deploy a static site, create a /usr/local/var/www/html directory, place an index.html or test.html file, and configure the server block in nginx.conf to point the root to that path.

Example server configuration:

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;
        }
    }
}

After reloading Nginx, http://localhost/ serves the default page and http://localhost/test.html serves the custom file. If a 403 error occurs, adjust the user directive (e.g., user root; on Linux or the appropriate group on macOS).

Location blocks can be refined with regular expressions and priorities. Common directives include: server: defines a virtual server. listen: IP address and port. server_name: domain name. location: maps URI patterns to configuration; regex types ( ~, ~*) and prefix types ( ^~, =) have distinct priority rules. root and index: resolve file paths.

Regular‑expression symbols such as ., ?, +, *, \d, ^, $, {n}, [a‑z], and grouping (a|b|c) are explained, and captured groups can be referenced with $1, $2, etc.

Static‑server example with two image directories and a custom variable:

http {
    server {
        listen       80;
        server_name  localhost;
        set $doc_root /usr/local/var/www;
        location / {
            root   $doc_root/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. A simple proxy 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 block. The default round‑robin method, weighted round‑robin, ip_hash, and third‑party modules fair and url_hash are demonstrated:

upstream web_servers {
    server localhost:8081;
    server localhost:8082;
}
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://web_servers;
        proxy_set_header Host $host:$server_port;
    }
}

Weighted example:

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

IP‑hash ensures a client always reaches the same backend, useful for session‑based applications:

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

Other useful directives: return – sends a status code or redirects, e.g.,

return 301 http://www.example.com/moved/here;

rewrite

– modifies the URI with regex, e.g.,

rewrite ^/users/(.*)$ /show?user=$1 break;

error_page

– defines custom error pages, e.g.,

error_page 404 /404.html;

log_format

and access_log – configure request logging. deny – blocks access to matching resources.

The article also lists many built‑in Nginx variables such as $remote_addr, $host, $request_uri, $scheme, and others that can be used in configurations.