Configuring HTTP Block

1. Setting MIME Types

Extension	MIME Type	Notes
.html	`text/html`	Standard HTML document
.css	`text/css`	Cascading Style Sheet
.js	`application/javascript`	JavaScript file
.json	`application/json`	JSON data
.xml	`application/xml`	XML document
.png	`image/png`	Portable Network Graphics image
.jpg	`image/jpeg`	JPEG image
.gif	`image/gif`	Graphics Interchange Format image
.svg	`image/svg+xml`	Scalable Vector Graphics
.mp4	`video/mp4`	MP4 video file
.mp3	`audio/mpeg`	MPEG audio file
.pdf	`application/pdf`	Portable Document Format
.txt	`text/plain`	Plain text file
.ico	`image/x-icon`	Icon file format
.woff	`font/woff`	Web Open Font Format
.woff2	`font/woff2`	Web Open Font Format 2
.eot	`application/vnd.ms-fontobject`	Embedded OpenType font
.ttf	`font/truetype`	TrueType font
.otf	`font/opentype`	OpenType font
.map	`application/json`	Source map file

Example: Custom MIME Type

types {
    text/html html;
    image/jpeg jpg;
    application/json json;
    font/woff woff;
    font/woff2 woff2;
}

# Adding a custom MIME type
types {
    text/html html;
    image/jpeg jpg;
    application/json json;
    font/woff woff;
    font/woff2 woff2;
    application/vnd.ms-fontobject eot;
    font/truetype ttf;
    font/opentype otf;
    application/x-font-opentype otf;
}

2. Configuring Access Logging

Directive	Values	Description
access_log	`path` [ `format` ]	Defines the path to the access log file and optional format. Default is `/var/log/nginx/access.log`.
access_log	`off`	Disables access logging for the current context.

Example: Basic Access Log Configuration

access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;

Example: Custom Log Format

log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
               '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
               '"$http_user_agent"';

access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main;

Note: The log_format directive must be defined before it is used in access_log.

Example: Using JSON Format for Logs

log_format json '{"time": "$time_iso8601", "remote_addr": "$remote_addr", "method": "$request_method", "uri": "$request_uri", "status": $status}';

access_log /var/log/nginx/access.json json;

Warning: Writing logs to disk can impact performance. Consider using a dedicated logging service or rotating logs.

3. Configuring Error Logging

Directive	Values	Description
error_log	`path` [ `level` ]	Specifies the file to which error logs are written and the logging level.
error_log	`stderr` [ `level` ]	Logs errors to the standard error stream.
error_log	`off`	Disables error logging.

Example: Basic Error Logging Configuration

error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;

Example: Logging to Standard Error

error_log stderr notice;

Example: Disabling Error Logging

error_log off;

Log Level	Description
`debug`	Logs all messages, including debug information.
`info`	Logs informational messages.
`notice`	Logs normal but significant messages.
`warn`	Logs warning messages.
`error`	Logs error messages.
`crit`	Logs critical error messages.
`alert`	Logs alert messages (requires system log).
`emerg`	Logs emergency messages (requires system log).

Note: The error_log directive can be specified at multiple levels (main, server, location), and each level overrides the previous one.

4. Setting Charset

Directive	Values	Description
charset	`utf-8`	Sets the default character set for responses
charset_map	`utf-8`, `iso-8859-1`	Maps character sets to MIME types
default_charset	`utf-8`	Defines the default charset for content negotiation

Example: Setting Default Charset

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        charset utf-8;
    }
}

Note: The charset directive affects the Content-Type header and can be overridden by individual location blocks.

5. Configuring Keepalive

Directive	Values	Description
keepalive_timeout	`65s`	Timeout for keepalive connections. Default is 75s.
keepalive_requests	`100`	Maximum number of requests per keepalive connection. Default is 100.
keepalive_disable	`none`	Disables keepalive for specific user agents. Values can include `msie6`, `safari`, etc.

Example: Basic Keepalive Configuration

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    keepalive_timeout 65s;
    keepalive_requests 100;
}

Note: Setting keepalive_timeout to 0 disables keepalive connections entirely.

6. Setting Client Body Size

Directive	Values	Description
client_max_body_size	`10m`, `1024k`, `1g`	Maximum allowed size of the client request body. Default is `1m`.
client_body_buffer_size	`128k`, `256k`	Size of the buffer used to read client request body. Default is `128k`.

Example: Setting client_max_body_size

http {
    client_max_body_size 50m;
}

Example: Setting client_body_buffer_size

server {
    client_body_buffer_size 256k;
}

7. Configuring Buffer Sizes

Directive	Values	Description
client_body_buffer_size	`128k`	Size of the buffer for client request body
client_max_body_size	`1m`	Maximum allowed size of the client request body
client_body_temp_file_write_size	`1m`	Size of data written to a temporary file in one write operation
client_body_timeout	`60s`	Timeout for reading client request body
client_header_buffer_size	`1k`	Size of the buffer for reading client request headers
large_client_header_buffers	`4 8k`	Number and size of buffers for large client request headers
lingering_time	`5s`	Time to keep connection open after sending response
lingering_timeout	`5s`	Timeout for lingering close of connections

Example: Setting buffer sizes for large uploads

http {
    client_max_body_size 100m;
    client_body_buffer_size 256k;
    client_header_buffer_size 2k;
    large_client_header_buffers 4 4k;
}

Note: Adjusting buffer sizes can impact performance and memory usage. Larger buffers may improve throughput for large requests but increase memory consumption.

8. Setting Timeouts

Directive	Values	Description
proxy_connect_timeout	`60s`	Timeout for connecting to upstream server
proxy_send_timeout	`60s`	Timeout for sending request to upstream server
proxy_read_timeout	`60s`	Timeout for reading response from upstream server
proxy_busy_buffers_size	`256k`	Size of buffer to use for busy upstream connections
client_body_timeout	`60s`	Timeout for reading client request body
client_header_timeout	`60s`	Timeout for reading client request header
keepalive_timeout	`7s`	Timeout for keep-alive connections
lingering_timeout	`5s`	Timeout for lingering connections

Example: Timeout Configuration

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
        proxy_connect_timeout 30s;
        proxy_send_timeout 30s;
        proxy_read_timeout 30s;
        client_body_timeout 30s;
        client_header_timeout 30s;
    }
}

9. Configuring TCP Options

Directive	Description	Default	Notes
tcp_nodelay	Enables or disables the TCP_NODELAY option	off	When enabled, disables Nagle's algorithm to reduce latency
tcp_nopush	Enables or disables the TCP_NOPUSH option	off	When enabled, delays sending packets to avoid small packets

Example: Enabling TCP optimizations

server {
    listen 80;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    tcp_nopush on;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

10. Setting Server Tokens

Directive	Values	Description
server_tokens	`on`, `off`, `master_only`	Controls whether the server version is included in error pages and responses.

Example: Disabling Server Tokens

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    # Hide server version in error pages and headers
    server_tokens off;
}

Note: Setting server_tokens off hides the Nginx version from error pages and HTTP headers, enhancing security by not exposing internal server details.

11. Configuring Default Server

Directive	Description	Example
listen	Specifies the IP address and port to listen on. The default server is selected by the `default_server` parameter.	`listen 80 default_server;`
server_name	Defines the server name(s) for this default server. If no `server_name` matches the request, this server block is used.	`server_name example.com;`

Example: Default Server Configuration

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    server_name example.com;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

12. Setting Real IP

Directive	Values	Description
set_real_ip_from	`192.168.1.0/24`	Defines trusted proxy servers that can send real IP addresses
set_real_ip_from	`10.0.0.0/8`	Another subnet of trusted proxies
real_ip_header	`X-Forwarded-For`	Header field used to get the real IP address
real_ip_recursive	`on`	Enables recursive processing of headers for multiple proxies

Example: Basic real IP configuration

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    set_real_ip_from 192.168.1.0/24;
    set_real_ip_from 10.0.0.0/8;
    real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
    real_ip_recursive on;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}