This document discusses best practices for scalable nginx configuration. It begins by comparing nginx's location-based configuration to Apache's more complex configuration using various containers. The document then outlines nginx's configuration including using server blocks, locations by prefix, regular expressions, and inheritance. It emphasizes keeping similar locations together, using inclusive locations, and avoiding rewrites or unnecessary "if" blocks for improved performance and scalability.

1. Scalable nginx configuration
Igor Sysoev
NGINX, Inc.

2. NGINX, Inc.
• Summer 2011, Moscow office
• Fall 2011, company and Series A round announced in
San Francisco. First commercial customer: Netflix
• Summer 2013, NGINX+ release
• Spring 2014, first nginx summit held in San Francisco
• Fall 2014, nginx.conf/2014 in San Francisco
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3. NGINX, Inc.
• Head office: San Francisco
16 people, sales, business development, marketing,
pre-sales, product management
!
• Engineering office: Moscow
17 people, software development, support and
professional service (we are hiring!)
3

4. Products
• nginx f/oss
• paid support and professional services available
!
• NGINX+
• closed source, binary only
• advanced load balancing
• monitoring and configuration
• video streaming
!
See nginx.com for more
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5. Scalable nginx configuration
!
O(1) maintenance
5

6. Apache: order matters
GET /script/
!
<Location />
DirectoryIndex index.html
<Location>
!
<Location /script/>
DirectoryIndex index.php
<Location>
!
/script/index.php
GET /script/
!
<Location /script/>
DirectoryIndex index.php
<Location>
!
<Location />
DirectoryIndex index.html
<Location>
!
/script/index.html
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7. Apache: add more fun
• global server
• <VirtualHost>
• <Directory> and <DirectoryMatch>
• <Files> and <FilesMatch>
• <Location> and <LocationMatch>
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8. Apache: add more fun
• global server
• <VirtualHost>
• <Directory> and <DirectoryMatch>
• <Files> and <FilesMatch>
• <Location> and <LocationMatch>
• .htaccess files spread all over site structure
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9. Apache: add more fun
• global server
• <VirtualHost>
• <Directory> and <DirectoryMatch>
• <Files> and <FilesMatch>
• <Location> and <LocationMatch>
• .htaccess files spread all over site structure
AccessFileName .hide-and-seek
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10. Apache: add more fun
• global server
• <VirtualHost>
• <Directory> and <DirectoryMatch>
• <Files> and <FilesMatch>
• <Location> and <LocationMatch>
• .htaccess files spread all over site structure
AccessFileName .hide-and-seek
• RewriteRules
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11. nginx: order does not matter
GET /script/
!
location / {
index index.html;
}
!
location /script/ {
index index.php;
}
!
/script/index.php
GET /script/
!
location /script/>
index index.php;
}
!
location / {
index index.html;
}
!
/script/index.php
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12. nginx: configuration overview
• server
• listen address:port
• server_name
• location
• location /prefix
• location ~regular expressions
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13. Life is more complex than theory
location ~ .(js|css|gif|jpe?g|png)$ {
…
}
!
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass …
…
}
13

14. nginx: configuration overview
• server
• listen address:port
• server_name
• location
• recursive prefix search
• regular expressions
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15. Inclusive locations
location /admin/ {
location ~ .php$ {
=> /admin/index.php
}
}
!
location ~ .php$ {
!
}
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16. Skip regular expression part
location ^~ /images/ {
…
}
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17. Wrong way!
location /img/ {
rewrite ^/img/(.+)$ /index.php?img=$1;
}
!
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass backend;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /path/to$fastcgi_script_name;
}
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18. Configuration inheritance
http {
sendfile on;
server {
root /site/root;
location / {
…
}
location /script/ {
root /site/php;
}
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19. Configuration inclusion
http {
…
server {
include static.conf;
location / {
…
}
location /script/ {
…
}
}
static.conf
!
location /i/ {
…
}
location /js/ {
…
}
location /css/ {
…
}
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20. Use copy-paste
!
Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) is a myth
Use copy-paste!
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21. Similar locations
location ~ ^/(images|css|js)/ {
root /path/static;
}
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22. Similar locations
location /images/ {
root /path/static;
}
!
location /css/ {
root /path/static;
}
!
location /js/ {
root /path/static;
}
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23. Similar locations
root /path/static;
!
location /images/ { }
!
location /css/ { }
!
location /js/ { }
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24. Inclusive locations
location /admin/ {
auth_basic admin;
}
!
!
!
!
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass backend;
}
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25. Inclusive locations
location /admin/ {
auth_basic admin;
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass backend;
}
}
!
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass backend;
}
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26. Wrong way!
location /img/ {
rewrite ^/img/(.+)$ /index.php?img=$1;
}
!
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass backend;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /path/to$fastcgi_script_name;
}
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27. Regular expression isolation
location /img/ {
location ~ ^/img/(?<img>.+)$ {
fastcgi_pass backend;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /path/to/index.php;
fastcgi_param QUERY_STRING img=$img;
}
}
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28. Regular expression in map
map $http_user_agent $mobile {
“~(iPhone|Android|Opera Mini)” 1;
default 0;
}
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29. Rewrites?
!
NO!
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30. “if” is Evil
if (true) {
gzip off;
}
!
if (true) {
etag off;
}
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31. Use “if” only to return HTTP code
if ($bot) {
return 200 “No bots here!”;
}
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32. TL;DR
• only prefix locations, avoid regular expression locations
• isolate regular expressions
• regular expression in maps
• duplication is your friend
• no rewrites
• use ”if” only to return HTTP code
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