Introduction
NGINX (pronounced "engine-x") is a high-performance web server, reverse proxy server, and load balancer. It was created by Igor Sysoev and first released in 2004. NGINX is known for its stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption.
Key Features of NGINX
- Web Server: NGINX can serve static content such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images efficiently.
- Reverse Proxy: It can act as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers.
- Load Balancer: NGINX can distribute incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server becomes overwhelmed.
- HTTP Cache: It can cache responses to improve performance and reduce load on backend servers.
- SSL/TLS Termination: NGINX can handle SSL/TLS encryption and decryption, offloading this task from backend servers.
- HTTP/2 Support: NGINX supports the HTTP/2 protocol, which improves web performance.
- Modular Architecture: NGINX can be extended with various modules to add functionality.
Why Use NGINX?
- Performance: NGINX is designed to handle a large number of concurrent connections efficiently.
- Scalability: It can easily scale out by adding more servers and distributing the load.
- Flexibility: NGINX can be configured to serve different purposes, from a simple web server to a complex reverse proxy and load balancer.
- Security: It provides various security features, including SSL/TLS support, rate limiting, and access control.
NGINX vs. Other Web Servers
| Feature | NGINX | Apache HTTP Server | Microsoft IIS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | High | Moderate | Moderate |
| Concurrency | Event-driven, non-blocking | Process-based, blocking | Thread-based, blocking |
| Configuration | Simple, concise | More complex, verbose | GUI-based, less flexible |
| Resource Usage | Low | Higher | Moderate |
| SSL/TLS Support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HTTP/2 Support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Platform | Cross-platform | Cross-platform | Windows only |
Practical Example: Serving Static Content
Let's look at a simple example of how NGINX can be used to serve static content.
NGINX Configuration File
Create a configuration file named nginx.conf with the following content:
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
server {
listen 80;
server_name localhost;
location / {
root /usr/share/nginx/html;
index index.html index.htm;
}
}
}Explanation
- events: This block defines the maximum number of simultaneous connections that can be handled by a worker process.
- http: This block contains configuration for the HTTP server.
- server: This block defines a virtual server.
- listen 80: The server listens on port 80.
- server_name localhost: The server name is set to
localhost. - location /: This block defines how to handle requests to the root URL.
- root /usr/share/nginx/html: The root directory for serving files is set to
/usr/share/nginx/html. - index index.html index.htm: The default files to serve are
index.htmlandindex.htm.
- root /usr/share/nginx/html: The root directory for serving files is set to
Starting NGINX
To start NGINX with the above configuration, use the following command:
Replace /path/to/nginx.conf with the actual path to your configuration file.
Summary
In this section, we introduced NGINX, a powerful and efficient web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer. We discussed its key features, advantages, and compared it with other web servers. We also provided a practical example of serving static content using NGINX. In the next section, we will cover how to install NGINX on various operating systems.