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Reverse Proxy Using Nginx

  • When configured as a reverse proxy, NGINX sits between the client and a back end server. The client sends requests to NGINX, then NGINX passes the request to the back end.

  • Once the back end server finishes processing the request, it sends it back to NGINX. In turn, NGINX returns the response to the client.

  • During the whole process, the client doesn't have any idea about who's actually processing the request. It sounds complicated in writing, but once you do it for yourself you'll see how easy NGINX makes it.

events {

}

http {

    server {

        listen 80;
        server_name test-server;

        location / {
          proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
          proxy_http_version 1.1;
          proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
          proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        }
    }

}
  • The proxy_http_version directive sets the HTTP version for the server. By default it's 1.0, but web socket requires it to be at least 1.1.
  • The proxy_set_header directive is used for setting a header on the back-end server. Generic syntax for this directive is as follows:
proxy_set_header <header name> <header value>
  • So, by writing proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; you're instructing NGINX to pass the value of the $http_upgrade variable as a header named Upgrade – same for the Connection header.