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

This article provides a step‑by‑step tutorial on using Nginx for serving static resources, configuring location blocks, and creating a basic HTTP server.

It demonstrates how to create a document root, add a test HTML file, and configure the server block with listen , server_name , and client_max_body_size directives.

The guide explains the purpose and syntax of common location directives, including exact match (=), prefix match (^~), regular expression (~, ~*), and generic (/) matches, and shows how to prioritize them.

It introduces static server mapping techniques using path prefixes and file extensions, and provides examples of mapping /images/ and image file extensions to separate directories.

Reverse proxy configuration is covered with proxy_pass , proxy_set_header , and related headers to forward requests to a backend Java application running on port 8081.

The article details load‑balancing methods using the upstream block, including round‑robin, weighted distribution, backup servers, ip_hash , and third‑party fair and url_hash strategies, with example configurations.

Additional topics include dynamic/static separation, custom variables with the set directive, the return and rewrite directives for redirects, custom error pages via error_page , logging configuration with log_format and access_log , access control using deny , and a list of built‑in Nginx variables such as $args , $remote_addr , $request_uri , and others.

Throughout the guide, code snippets are presented in ... blocks to preserve the original configuration syntax.