Nginx – Using Nginx as Webserver and Reverse proxy

nginxreverse-proxyweb-server

I am trying to setup Nginx as a reverse proxy and webserver together. and I'm having issues in trying to understand how I can do it.

Let's assume I am using the default Symfony2 nginx configuration
(http://symfony.com/doc/current/cookbook/configuration/web_server_configuration.html):

server {
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/project/web;

    location / {
        # try to serve file directly, fallback to app.php
        try_files $uri /app.php$is_args$args;
    }
    # DEV
    # This rule should only be placed on your development environment
    # In production, don't include this and don't deploy app_dev.php or config.php
    location ~ ^/(app_dev|config)\.php(/|$) {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
    }
    # PROD
    location ~ ^/app\.php(/|$) {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
        # Prevents URIs that include the front controller. This will 404:
        # http://domain.tld/app.php/some-path
        # Remove the internal directive to allow URIs like this
        internal;
    }

    error_log /var/log/nginx/project_error.log;
    access_log /var/log/nginx/project_access.log;
}

I want to add a configuration so the Nginx will also function as a reverse proxy. and not only a webserver.

  1. Do I need to add to the same configuration file the proxy_pass, proxy_cache, etc.. configurations?

  2. Do I need to set a configuration for a specific routes? or to disable them?

  3. If for example if I don't want the route /app_dev.php/abc to be cached? what do I need to do?

Best Answer

Basically nginx is proxy server. Its capabilities include proxy HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, POP3, SMTP and other protocols. For HTTP(S) proxy, the backend can be either FastCGI server like PHP-FPM or another web server.

For FastCGI backend like you need fastcgi module. For example, you need to define the backend with fastcgi_pass. For proxying another website, you need HTTP proxy module. You need to use direction like proxy_pass, proxy_cache to control the behaviour of this module.

  1. Do I need to add to the same configuration file the proxy_pass, proxy_cache, etc.. configurations?

YES

  1. Do I need to set a configuration for a specific routes? or to disable them?

For example, you need proxy the the specific URL www.example.com/myawesomeapp, then use location to match the URL

location /myawesomeapp {
    proxy_pass http://<upstream_block_name>;
    ... other parameter ...;
}
  1. If for example if I don't want the route /app_dev.php/abc to be cached? what do I need to do?

Use proxy_cache_bypass. You can set by if directive like this tutorial.

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