Nginx Tutorial
Nginx
Nginx (pronounced “engine-x“) is a popular open-source web server and reverse proxy server software. It is designed to handle high concurrency and provide fast and efficient delivery of web content. Originally developed to solve the C10k problem (handling 10,000 concurrent connections), Nginx has gained widespread popularity for its performance, scalability, and versatility.
Here are some key features and use cases of Nginx:
- Web Server: Nginx can serve static and dynamic web content, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and more. It can handle a large number of simultaneous connections efficiently, making it suitable for high-traffic websites.
- Reverse Proxy: Nginx can act as a reverse proxy server, sitting between clients and backend application servers. It can distribute incoming requests to multiple servers, balance the load, and improve application performance and availability.
- Load Balancer: Nginx can perform load balancing by distributing incoming requests across multiple backend servers. It supports various load balancing algorithms and can help optimize resource utilization and ensure high availability.
- Caching: Nginx includes built-in caching capabilities to store and serve frequently accessed content. By caching static files or dynamic responses, it reduces the load on backend servers and improves overall performance.
- SSL/TLS Termination: Nginx can handle SSL/TLS encryption and decryption, offloading the processing burden from backend servers. It can also perform SSL/TLS termination, allowing secure connections between clients and the server.
- Proxy Server: Nginx can act as a forward proxy server, allowing clients to make requests to other servers through it. It provides additional features like access control, caching, and logging for outgoing requests.
- HTTP/2 and WebSocket Support: Nginx supports the latest HTTP/2 protocol, enabling faster and more efficient communication between clients and servers. It also provides WebSocket support for real-time bidirectional communication.
Nginx is widely used by many large-scale websites, e-commerce platforms, content delivery networks (CDNs), and as a load balancer for microservices architectures. It is known for its lightweight and efficient architecture, making it a popular choice for handling web traffic and improving performance and scalability.
