Nginx

nginx is a robust, small, high performance web server and reverse proxy server. It is a good alternative to popular web servers like Apache and lighttpd.

Installation
Before immediately installing the package, first take a good look at the USE flags for Nginx.

Expanded USE flags
Nginx uses modules to enhance its features. To simplify the maintenance of this modular approach, the nginx ebuild uses expanded USE flags to denote which modules should be installed.


 * HTTP related modules can be enabled through the NGINX_MODULES_HTTP variable
 * Mail related modules can be enabled through the NGINX_MODULES_MAIL variable
 * Third party modules can be enabled through the NGINX_ADD_MODULES variable

These variables need to be set in. Their descriptions can be found in and.

For example, to enable the  module:

The above will overwrite the default value of  and set it to. To enable the  module without overwriting the default   value, the following USE flag notation can be specified in :

Emerge
With the USE flags set, install :

Installation verification
The default nginx configuration defines a virtual server with the root directory set to. However due to, the nginx ebuild will only create the directory and without an index file. To have a working default configuration, create the directory and and simple index file:

The nginx package installs a init service script allowing administrators to stop, start, or restart the service. Run the next command to start the nginx service:

To verify that nginx is properly running, point a web browser to the http://localhost address or use a command-line web tool like :

Configuration
The nginx configuration is handled through the file.

Single site access
The following example shows a single-site access, without dynamic capabilities (such as PHP).

Multiple site access
It is possible to leverage the  directive to split the configuration in multiple files:

PHP support
Add the following lines to the nginx configuration to enable PHP support. In this example nginx is exchanging information with the PHP process via a UNIX socket.

To support this setup, PHP needs to be built with FastCGI Process Manager support, which is handled through the  USE flag:

Rebuild PHP with the  USE flag enabled:

Review the configuration and add following line:

Set the timezone in the php-fpm file. Substitute the  text in the FileBox below with the appropriate timezone information:

Start the daemon:

Add to the default runlevel:

Reload with changed configuration:

IP address access list
The next example shows how to allow access to a particular URL (in this case ) only to:


 * certain hosts (e.g. 192.0.2.1 127.0.0.1)
 * and IP networks (e.g. 198.51.100.0/24)

Basic authentication
nginx allows limiting access to resources by validating the user name and password:

The file can be generated using:

TLS support
It is warmly suggested to support only TLS and disable known insecure ciphers.

The ebuild provides stock self signed certificates in

Forward secrecy
The diffie-hellman certificate can be created using :

Third party modules
Download third party module source and move it to. Manually compile the selected Nginx module, then add the following line to :

Rebuild nginx with the third party module enabled:

OpenRC
Start nginx:

Stop nginx:

Add nginx to the default runlevel:

Restart the nginx service:

Troubleshooting
In case of problems, the following commands can help troubleshoot the situation.

Validate configuration
Verify that the running nginx configuration has no errors:

By running with the   option, it will validate the configuration file without actually starting the  daemon.

Verify processes are running
Check if processes are running:

Verify bound addresses and ports
Verify nginx daemon is listening on the right TCP port (such as 80 for HTTP or 443 for HTTPS):

External resources

 * http://nginx.org/en/docs/beginners_guide.html - A beginner's guide. Helpful for those who do not know much about.
 * http://nginx.com/resources/admin-guide/ - The administration guide. Helpful for web administrators who have been working in the field.
 * http://wiki.nginx.org/Main - The nginx wiki.
 * https://github.com/h5bp/server-configs-nginx - H5BP nginx config.