Nginx Configuration Guide: Static Server, Reverse Proxy, Load Balancing, and Dynamic‑Static Separation

The guide begins with using Nginx as a static server, showing how to create a document root, place test HTML files, and configure a basic http { server { listen 80; server_name localhost; client_max_body_size 1024M; location / { root /usr/local/var/www/html; index index.html index.htm; } } } block.

It then explains location directives, including regular‑expression matching, and demonstrates a static server with custom variables using http { server { listen 80; server_name localhost; set $doc_root /usr/local/var/www; 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; } } } .

The article covers reverse proxy configuration, routing external requests to an internal Java web service via 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 is introduced with the upstream directive, describing round‑robin, weighted, ip_hash, fair, and url_hash strategies, each illustrated with example configurations such as upstream web_servers { server localhost:8081; server localhost:8082; } and upstream test { server localhost:8081 weight=1; server localhost:8082 weight=3; server localhost:8083 weight=4 backup; } .

Dynamic‑static separation is explained, showing how to split static resources from dynamic requests and combine proxying with static file serving in a single server block.

Additional useful directives are presented: return 301 http://www.example.com/moved/here; for redirects, rewrite ^/users/(.*)$ /show?user=$1 break; for URI rewriting, error_page 404 /404.html; for custom error pages, logging configuration with log_format and access_log , and access control using deny all; within a location.

The article concludes with a list of common built‑in Nginx variables (e.g., $host, $remote_addr, $request_uri) that can be used in configurations.