So I ran into this problem. I was trying to use the ngx_http_realip_module module to forward the correct remote address for an nginx install behind a load balancer.
Using the directive:
set_real_ip_from 10.0.0.0/8;
set_real_ip_from 172.16.0.0/12;
set_real_ip_from 192.168.0.0/16;
real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
Resulted in nginx: [emerg] unknown directive "set_real_ip_from " in /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.org.conf:6
Even though ngx_http_realip_module was installed:
$ nginx -V
nginx version: nginx/1.4.7
built by gcc 4.8.2 20131212 (Red Hat 4.8.2-7) (GCC)
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --prefix=/usr/share/nginx --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/client_body --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/proxy --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/fastcgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/uwsgi --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/scgi --pid-path=/var/run/nginx.pid --lock-path=/var/lock/subsys/nginx --user=nginx --group=nginx --with-file-aio --with-ipv6 --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_spdy_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_addition_module --with-http_xslt_module --with-http_image_filter_module --with-http_geoip_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_flv_module --with-http_mp4_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_secure_link_module --with-http_degradation_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_perl_module --with-mail --with-mail_ssl_module --with-pcre --with-google_perftools_module --with-debug --with-cc-opt='-O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m64 -mtune=generic' --with-ld-opt=' -Wl,-E'
Best Answer
Looking at the error message a little closer answered my question. The directive it could not identify was
"set_real_ip_from "not ]"set_real_ip_from"`.Apparently, white space matters in nginx configuration files.Turns out the configuration (which I must have pasted in from somewhere) had special non-breaking spaces in it. That'll teach me to copy and paste configuration rather than typing it in.Changing the lines to:
Solved the problem.