Nginx reverse proxy and load balancing
Ryan Nakamura
Feb 2026
1 tab
# Main nginx.conf
worker_processes auto;
worker_rlimit_nofile 65535;
events {
worker_connections 4096;
multi_accept on;
use epoll;
}
http {
# Basic settings
sendfile on;
tcp_nopush on;
tcp_nodelay on;
keepalive_timeout 65;
types_hash_max_size 2048;
server_tokens off;
include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
# Logging
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] '
'"$request" $status $body_bytes_sent '
'"$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" '
'$request_time $upstream_response_time';
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
# Gzip compression
gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_proxied any;
gzip_comp_level 6;
gzip_min_length 1024;
gzip_types
text/plain
text/css
text/xml
text/javascript
application/json
application/javascript
application/xml
image/svg+xml;
# Rate limiting
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=api:10m rate=10r/s;
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=login:10m rate=1r/s;
# Upstream backends
upstream app_servers {
least_conn;
server app1:3000 weight=3;
server app2:3000 weight=2;
server app3:3000 weight=1;
server app4:3000 backup;
keepalive 32;
}
# Proxy cache
proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx
levels=1:2
keys_zone=app_cache:10m
max_size=1g
inactive=60m
use_temp_path=off;
# HTTP → HTTPS redirect
server {
listen 80;
server_name app.example.com;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}
# Main HTTPS server
server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
server_name app.example.com;
# SSL
ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/certs/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/privkey.pem;
ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
ssl_session_timeout 1d;
# Security headers
add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'" always;
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
# Static files
location /static/ {
alias /var/www/static/;
expires 1y;
add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
access_log off;
}
# API with rate limiting
location /api/ {
limit_req zone=api burst=20 nodelay;
proxy_pass http://app_servers;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_connect_timeout 5s;
proxy_send_timeout 30s;
proxy_read_timeout 30s;
# Caching
proxy_cache app_cache;
proxy_cache_valid 200 10m;
proxy_cache_valid 404 1m;
proxy_cache_use_stale error timeout updating;
add_header X-Cache-Status $upstream_cache_status;
}
# Login with strict rate limiting
location /auth/login {
limit_req zone=login burst=3 nodelay;
proxy_pass http://app_servers;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
# WebSocket support
location /ws/ {
proxy_pass http://app_servers;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_read_timeout 86400;
}
# Default proxy
location / {
proxy_pass http://app_servers;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
# Health check endpoint
location /nginx-health {
access_log off;
return 200 "healthy";
add_header Content-Type text/plain;
}
}
}
1 file · nginx
Explain with highlit
Nginx serves as a high-performance reverse proxy and load balancer. The upstream block defines backend server pools. Load balancing methods include round-robin (default), least_conn, ip_hash, and random. The proxy_pass directive forwards requests to upstreams. proxy_set_header passes client information like X-Real-IP and X-Forwarded-For. SSL termination with ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key handles HTTPS. server_name enables virtual hosting. Rate limiting with limit_req_zone prevents abuse. Gzip compression reduces bandwidth with gzip on. Caching with proxy_cache stores upstream responses. location blocks match URL patterns for routing. Security headers like X-Frame-Options and Content-Security-Policy harden the server.