How to Compile and Configure Nginx with HTTPS on Linux – A Step‑By‑Step Guide

Preface

WeChat mini‑programs require HTTPS, and when existing online configuration cannot be changed, the simplest solution is to place an Nginx reverse proxy with HTTPS in front of the internal server. Nginx’s high performance allows a 4‑core 16 GB machine to handle millions of page views per day.

Basic Knowledge

Nginx relies on the epoll I/O model, which requires a Linux kernel version 2.6 or newer. You can check the kernel version with uname -a. (Image showing kernel version output.)

Download

The official Nginx download page offers three version types:

Mainline – the current development branch.

Stable – the latest stable release recommended for production.

Legacy – older stable releases.

Compilation and Installation

Nginx depends on several libraries:

gzip module – requires zlib and its development package.

rewrite module – requires pcre and its development package.

SSL support – requires openssl, its development package, and a C++ compiler ( gcc‑c++).

Example: to check whether the gzip module is present, run the appropriate command (image). If missing, install with yum install zlib zlib-devel.

Typical build steps:

tar zxvf nginx-1.10.2.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.10.2
./configure
make
make install

The ./configure script checks the local environment and prints the default installation directory and basic configuration (image).

Starting Nginx

Nginx listens on port 80 by default. Before starting, verify the port is free with fuser -n tcp 80 or netstat -pan | grep :80. After confirming, start Nginx and visit http://<em>IP</em>:80/ to see the welcome page (image).

Nginx Configuration

The main configuration file /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf contains global settings such as log configuration, which can be overridden in sub‑modules (image). You can test the syntax of a modified configuration with nginx -t (image).

A diagram of the configuration file hierarchy is shown (image).

Enabling HTTPS

During compilation, include the SSL module with ./configure --with-http_ssl_module.

Rate Limiting

Nginx’s ngx_http_limit_req_module can be used to limit request rates. After adding the directives in the http block, reference them in the desired server block. The burst parameter defines how many requests can exceed the rate temporarily; a burst of 0 blocks excess traffic (image).

Example Configuration

An example of a complete configuration file is shown (image).

Author: 徐家三少 Source: https://juejin.im/post/58846fceb123db7389d2b70e