This guide provides essential Nginx commands and configuration examples for managing web servers, including settings for ports, domain names, serving static files, handling redirects, setting up reverse proxies, configuring HTTPS, and implementing load balancing.

Nginx Essential Commands

Quick reference for common Nginx operations.

##############################################################################
# NGINX
# DOCUMENTATION: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
##############################################################################

sudo nginx -t # Check syntax
sudo systemctl status nginx # nginx current status
sudo systemctl reload nginx # Reload nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx  # Restart nginx
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ # Link website
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log # Tail logs to inspect requests

General Server Settings

Configure listening ports and server names for your Nginx instances.

# *****************************************************************************
# General Settings
# *****************************************************************************

# Ports

server {
  # Use HTTP protocol
  listen 80;
  
  # Use HTTPS protocol
  listen 443 ssl;
  
  # Listen on port 80 using IPv6
  listen [::]:80;
  
  # Listen on port 80 using **only** IPv6
  listen [::]:80 ipv6only=on;
}

# Domain name (server_name)

server {
  # Listen to example.com
  server_name example.com;
  
  # Listen to multiple domains
  server_name example.com www.example.com;
  
  # Listen to all sub-domains
  server_name *.example.com;
  
  # Listen to all top-level domains
  server_name example.*;
  
  # Listen to unspecified hostnames (listens to IP address itself)
  server_name "";
}

Serving Static Files

Configure Nginx to serve static assets from a specified root directory.

# *****************************************************************************
# Serving Files 
# *****************************************************************************

# Static assets (traditional web server)

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    root /path/to/website;
    # root /www/data/ for example

    # If there's no 'root' inside, it will look for /www/data/index.html
    location / {
    }

    # If there's no 'root' inside, it will look for /www/data/images/index.html
    location /images/ {
    }

    # Since there's 'root' inside, it will look for /www/media/videos/index.html
    location /videos/ {
        root /www/media;
    }
}

Handling Redirects

Implement permanent (301) and temporary (302) redirects for URL changes.

# *****************************************************************************
# Redirects
# *****************************************************************************

# 301 Permanent

server {
    # Redirect www.example.com to example.com
    listen 80;
    server_name www.example.com;
    return 301 http://example.com$request_uri;
}

server {
    # Redirect http to https
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
}

# 302 Temporary

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name yourdomain.com;
  return 302 http://otherdomain.com;
}

Reverse Proxy Configuration

Set up Nginx as a reverse proxy for applications like Node.js, Streamlit, or Jupyter.

# *****************************************************************************
# Reverse proxy
# *****************************************************************************

# Useful for Node.js, Streamlit, Jupyter, etc

# Basic

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name example.com;
  
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://0.0.0.0:3000;
    # where 0.0.0.0:3000 is your Node.js Server bound on 0.0.0.0 listing on port 3000
  }
}

# Basic + (upstream)

upstream node_js {
  server 0.0.0.0:3000;
  # where 0.0.0.0:3000 is your Node.js Server bound on 0.0.0.0 listing on port 3000
}

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name example.com;
  
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://node_js;
  }
}

# Upgraded Connection (useful for applications with support for WebSockets)

upstream node_js {
  server 0.0.0.0:3000;
}

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name example.com;
  
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://node_js;
    proxy_redirect off;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
	
    }
}

HTTPS Protocol Configuration

Secure your website with SSL/TLS certificates and configure optimal security settings.

# *****************************************************************************
# HTTPS Protocol
# *****************************************************************************

# The majority of SSL options depend on what your application does or needs

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name example.com;

    ssl on;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/privkey.pem;

    ssl_stapling on;
    ssl_stapling_verify on;
    ssl_trusted_certificate /path/to/fullchain.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_session_timeout 1d;
    ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:50m;
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=15768000;
}

# Permanent redirect to HTTPS secured domain

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name yourdomain.com;
  return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

# You can easily secure you website/app using Let's Encrypt.
# Go https://certbot.eff.org/lets-encrypt/ubuntuxenial-nginx.html for more information

Load Balancing

Distribute traffic across multiple backend servers for high availability and scalability.

# *****************************************************************************
# Load Balancing
# *****************************************************************************

# Useful for large applications running in multiple instances. Below example is for reverse proxy
upstream node_js {
  server 0.0.0.0:3000;
  server 0.0.0.0:4000;
  server 127.155.142.421;
}

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name example.com;
  
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://node_js;
  }
}

For more in-depth information on Nginx configuration and best practices, refer to the official Nginx documentation: Nginx Documentation.