Node js Nginx - What now

Question

I ve set up Node js and Nginx on my server  Now I want to use it  but  before I start there are 2 questions    How should they work together  How should I handle the requests  There are 2 concepts for a Node js server  which one is better      a  Create a separate HTTP server for each website that needs it  Then load all JavaScript code at the start of the program  so the code is interpreted once   b  Create one single Node js server which handles all Node js requests  This reads the requested files and evals their contents  So the files are interpreted on each request  but the server logic is much simpler    It s not clear for me how to use Node js correctly

User · Answer

The best and simpler setup with Nginx and Nodejs is to use Nginx as an HTTP and TCP load balancer with proxy_protocol enabled. In this context, Nginx will be able to proxy incoming requests to nodejs, and also terminate SSL connections to the backend Nginx server(s), and not to the proxy server itself. (SSL-PassThrough)

In my opinion, there is no point in giving non-SSL examples, since all web apps are (or should be) using secure environments.

Example config for the proxy server, in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

user  nginx;
worker_processes  1;
error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;
events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}
http {
  upstream webserver-http {
    server 192.168.1.4; #use a host port instead if using docker
    server 192.168.1.5; #use a host port instead if using docker
  }
  upstream nodejs-http {
    server 192.168.1.4:8080; #nodejs listening port
    server 192.168.1.5:8080; #nodejs listening port
  }
  server {
    server_name example.com;
    location / {
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
      proxy_set_header Connection "";
      add_header       X-Upstream $upstream_addr;
      proxy_redirect     off;
      proxy_connect_timeout  300;
      proxy_http_version 1.1;
      proxy_buffers 16 16k;
      proxy_buffer_size 16k;
      proxy_cache_background_update on;
      proxy_pass http://webserver-http$request_uri;
    }
  }
  server {
    server_name node.example.com;
    location / {
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";
      add_header       X-Upstream $upstream_addr;
      proxy_redirect     off;
      proxy_connect_timeout  300;
      proxy_http_version 1.1;
      proxy_buffers 16 16k;
      proxy_buffer_size 16k;
      proxy_cache_background_update on;
      proxy_pass http://nodejs-http$request_uri;
    }
  }
}
stream {
  upstream webserver-https {
    server 192.168.1.4:443; #use a host port instead if using docker
    server 192.168.1.5:443; #use a host port instead if using docker
  }

  server {
    proxy_protocol on;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    listen 443;
    proxy_pass webserver-https;
  }
  log_format proxy 'Protocol: $protocol - $status $bytes_sent $bytes_received $session_time';
  access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log proxy;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log debug;
}

Now, let's handle the backend webserver. /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:

user  nginx;
worker_processes  1;
error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;
load_module /etc/nginx/modules/ngx_http_geoip2_module.so; # GeoIP2
events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}
http {
    variables_hash_bucket_size 64;
    variables_hash_max_size 2048;
    server_tokens off;
    sendfile    on;
    tcp_nopush  on;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    autoindex off;
    keepalive_timeout  30;
    types_hash_bucket_size 256;
    client_max_body_size 100m;
    server_names_hash_bucket_size 256;
    include         mime.types;
    default_type    application/octet-stream;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    # GeoIP2
    log_format  main    'Proxy Protocol Address: [$proxy_protocol_addr] '
                        '"$request" $remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                        '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                        '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

    # GeoIP2
    log_format  main_geo    'Original Client Address: [$realip_remote_addr]- Proxy Protocol Address: [$proxy_protocol_addr] '
                            'Proxy Protocol Server Address:$proxy_protocol_server_addr - '
                            '"$request" $remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                            '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                            '$geoip2_data_country_iso $geoip2_data_country_name';

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log  main_geo; # GeoIP2
#===================== GEOIP2 =====================#
    geoip2 /usr/share/geoip/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
        $geoip2_metadata_country_build  metadata build_epoch;
        $geoip2_data_country_geonameid  country geoname_id;
        $geoip2_data_country_iso        country iso_code;
        $geoip2_data_country_name       country names en;
        $geoip2_data_country_is_eu      country is_in_european_union;
    }
    #geoip2 /usr/share/geoip/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
    #   $geoip2_data_city_name city names en;
    #   $geoip2_data_city_geonameid city geoname_id;
    #   $geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
    #   $geoip2_data_continent_geonameid continent geoname_id;
    #   $geoip2_data_continent_name continent names en;
    #   $geoip2_data_location_accuracyradius location accuracy_radius;
    #   $geoip2_data_location_latitude location latitude;
    #   $geoip2_data_location_longitude location longitude;
    #   $geoip2_data_location_metrocode location metro_code;
    #   $geoip2_data_location_timezone location time_zone;
    #   $geoip2_data_postal_code postal code;
    #   $geoip2_data_rcountry_geonameid registered_country geoname_id;
    #   $geoip2_data_rcountry_iso registered_country iso_code;
    #   $geoip2_data_rcountry_name registered_country names en;
    #   $geoip2_data_rcountry_is_eu registered_country is_in_european_union;
    #   $geoip2_data_region_geonameid subdivisions 0 geoname_id;
    #   $geoip2_data_region_iso subdivisions 0 iso_code;
    #   $geoip2_data_region_name subdivisions 0 names en;
   #}

#=================Basic Compression=================#
    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_proxied any;
    gzip_comp_level 6;
    gzip_buffers 16 8k;
    gzip_http_version 1.1;
    gzip_types text/css text/xml text/plain application/javascript image/jpeg image/png image/gif image/x-icon image/svg+xml image/webp application/font-woff application/json application/vnd.ms-fontobject application/vnd.ms-powerpoint;
    gzip_static on;
    
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example.com-https.conf;
}

Now, let's configure the virtual host with this SSL and proxy_protocol enabled config at /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com-https.conf:

server {
    real_ip_header proxy_protocol;
    set_real_ip_from 192.168.1.1; #proxy server ip address
    #set_real_ip_from proxy; #proxy container hostname if you are using docker
    server_name 192.168.1.4; #Your current server ip address. It will redirect to the domain name.
    listen 80;
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:80;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.key;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;
    return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
}
server {
    real_ip_header proxy_protocol;
    set_real_ip_from 192.168.1.1; #proxy server ip address
    #set_real_ip_from proxy; #proxy container hostname if you are using docker
    server_name  example.com;
    listen       *:80;
    return 301   https://example.com$request_uri;
}
server {
    real_ip_header proxy_protocol;
    set_real_ip_from 192.168.1.1; #proxy server ip address
    #set_real_ip_from proxy; #proxy container hostname if you are using docker
    server_name www.example.com;
    listen 80;
    listen 443 http2;
    listen [::]:80;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2 ;
    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.key;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;
    return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
}
server {
    real_ip_header proxy_protocol;
    set_real_ip_from 192.168.1.1; #proxy server ip address
    #set_real_ip_from proxy; #proxy container hostname if you are using docker
    server_name example.com;
    listen 443 proxy_protocol ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 proxy_protocol ssl http2;
    root /var/www/html;
    charset UTF-8;
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security 'max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload';
    add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header Referrer-Policy no-referrer;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
    ssl_ciphers "EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH";
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.1 TLSv1;
    ssl_session_cache   shared:SSL:10m;
    ssl_session_timeout 10m;
    keepalive_timeout   70;
    ssl_buffer_size 1400;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;
    ssl_stapling on;
    ssl_stapling_verify on;
    resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 valid=86400;
    resolver_timeout 10;
    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.key;
    ssl_trusted_certificate /etc/nginx/certs/example.com.crt;
location ~* \.(jpg|jpe?g|gif|png|ico|cur|gz|svgz|mp4|ogg|ogv|webm|htc|css|js|otf|eot|svg|ttf|woff|woff2)(\?ver=[0-9.]+)?$ {
    expires modified 1M;
    add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin '*';
    add_header Pragma public;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate";
    access_log off;
    }
    location ~ /.well-known { #For issuing LetsEncrypt Certificates
        allow all;
    }
location / {
    index index.php;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }
error_page  404    /404.php;

location ~ \.php$ {
    try_files       $uri =404;
    fastcgi_index   index.php;
    fastcgi_pass    unix:/tmp/php7-fpm.sock;
    #fastcgi_pass    php-container-hostname:9000; (if using docker)
    fastcgi_pass_request_headers on;
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    fastcgi_param   SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
    fastcgi_ignore_client_abort off;
    fastcgi_connect_timeout 60;
    fastcgi_send_timeout 180;
    fastcgi_read_timeout 180;
    fastcgi_request_buffering on;
    fastcgi_buffer_size 128k;
    fastcgi_buffers 4 256k;
    fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 256k;
    fastcgi_temp_file_write_size 256k;
    include fastcgi_params;
}
location = /robots.txt {
    access_log off;
    log_not_found off;
    }
location ~ /\. {
    deny  all;
    access_log off;
    log_not_found off;
    }
}

And lastly, a sample of 2 nodejs webservers: First server:

var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    res.end('Hello From Nodejs\n');
}).listen(8080, "192.168.1.4");
console.log('Server running at http://192.168.1.4:8080/');

Second server:

var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    res.end('Hello From Nodejs\n');
}).listen(8080, "192.168.1.5");
console.log('Server running at http://192.168.1.5:8080/');

Now everything should be perfectly working and load-balanced.

A while back i wrote about How to set up Nginx as a TCP load balancer in Docker. Check it out if you are using Docker.

User · Answer

Nginx works as a front end server  which in this case proxies the requests to a node js server  Therefore you need to setup an nginx config file for node   This is what I have done in my Ubuntu box   Create the file yourdomain com at  etc nginx sites-available    vim  etc nginx sites-available yourdomain com   In it you should have something like      the IP s  on which your node server is running  I chose port 3000  upstream app yourdomain       server 127 0 0 1 3000      keepalive 8       the nginx server instance server       listen 80      listen      80      server name yourdomain com www yourdomain com      access log  var log nginx yourdomain com log         pass the request to the node js server with the correct headers       and much more can be added  see nginx config options     location           proxy set header X-Real-IP  remote addr        proxy set header X-Forwarded-For  proxy add x forwarded for        proxy set header Host  http host        proxy set header X-NginX-Proxy true         proxy pass http   app yourdomain         proxy redirect off             If you want nginx     1 3 13  to handle websocket requests as well  add the following lines in the location   section   proxy http version 1 1  proxy set header Upgrade  http upgrade  proxy set header Connection  upgrade     Once you have this setup you must enable the site defined in the config file above   cd  etc nginx sites-enabled   ln -s  etc nginx sites-available yourdomain com yourdomain com   Create your node server app at  var www yourdomain app js and run it at localhost 3000  var http   require  http     http createServer function  req  res        res writeHead 200    Content-Type    text plain         res end  Hello World n       listen 3000   127 0 0 1    console log  Server running at http   127 0 0 1 3000       Test for syntax mistakes   nginx -t   Restart nginx   sudo  etc init d nginx restart   Lastly start the node server   cd  var www yourdomain   amp  amp  node app js   Now you should see  Hello World  at yourdomain com  One last note with regards to starting the node server  you should use some kind of monitoring system for the node daemon  There is an awesome tutorial on node with upstart and monit

User · Answer

Node js with Nginx configuration     sudo nano  etc nginx sites-available subdomain your domain com   add the following configuration so that Nginx acting as a proxy redirect to port 3000 traffic from the server when we come from    subdomain your domain com     upstream subdomain your domain com     server 127 0 0 1 3000    server     listen 80    listen      80    server name subdomain your domain com    access log  var log nginx subdomain your domain access log    error log  var log nginx subdomain your domain error log debug    location         proxy set header X-Real-IP  remote addr      proxy set header X-Forwarder-For  proxy add x forwarded for      proxy set header Host  http host      proxy set header X-NginX-Proxy true      proxy pass http   subdomain your domain com      proxy redirect off

User · Answer

You can also have different urls for apps in one server configuration    yourdomain com app1   -  to Node js process running locally http   127 0 0 1 3000 yourdomain com app2   -  to Node js process running locally http   127 0 0 1 4000   In  etc nginx sites-enabled yourdomain   server       listen 80      listen      80      server name yourdomain com       location     app1           proxy set header X-Real-IP  remote addr          proxy set header X-Forwarded-For  proxy add x forwarded for          proxy set header Host  http host          proxy set header X-NginX-Proxy true          proxy pass    http   127 0 0 1 3000              location     app2           proxy set header X-Real-IP  remote addr          proxy set header X-Forwarded-For  proxy add x forwarded for          proxy set header Host  http host          proxy set header X-NginX-Proxy true          proxy pass    http   127 0 0 1 4000             Restart nginx   sudo service nginx restart   Starting applications   node app1 js  var http   require  http    http createServer function  req  res        res writeHead 200    Content-Type    text plain         res end  Hello from app1  n       listen 3000   127 0 0 1    console log  Server running at http   127 0 0 1 3000       node app2 js  var http   require  http    http createServer function  req  res        res writeHead 200    Content-Type    text plain         res end  Hello from app2  n       listen 4000   127 0 0 1    console log  Server running at http   127 0 0 1 4000

User · Answer

You can run nodejs using pm2 if you want to manage each microservice means and run it  Node will be running in a port right just configure that port in nginx  etc nginx sites-enabled domain com    server      listen 80      server name domain com www domain com     location          return 403          location  url           proxy pass http   localhost 51967 info            Check whether localhost is running or not by using ping   And   Create one single Node js server which handles all Node js requests  This reads the requested files and evals their contents  So the files are interpreted on each request  but the server logic is much simpler    This is best and as you said easier too

User · Answer

We can easily setup a Nodejs app by Nginx acting as a reverse proxy  The following configuration assumes the NodeJS application is running on 127 0 0 1 8080     server       server name domain com sub domain com    multiple domains       location           proxy pass http   127 0 0 1 8080          proxy set header Host  host        proxy pass request headers on                 location  static          alias  absolute path to static files    nginx will handle js css                in above setup your Nodejs app will      get HTTP HOST header where you can apply domain specific logic to serve the response     Your Application must be managed by a process manager like pm2 or supervisor for handling situations reusing sockets or resources etc  Setup an error reporting service for getting production errors like sentry or rollbar   NOTE  you can setup logic for handing domain specific request routes  create a middleware for expressjs application

User · Answer

You can also setup multiple domain with nginx  forwarding to multiple node js processes   For example to achieve these    domain1 com -  to Node js process running locally http   127 0 0 1 4000 domain2 com -  to Node js process running locally http   127 0 0 1 5000   These ports  4000 and 5000  should be used to listen the app requests in your app code    etc nginx sites-enabled domain1  server       listen 80      listen      80      server name domain1 com      access log  var log nginx domain1 access log      location             proxy pass    http   127 0 0 1 4000             In  etc nginx sites-enabled domain2  server       listen 80      listen      80      server name domain2 com      access log  var log nginx domain2 access log      location             proxy pass    http   127 0 0 1 5000

User · Answer

Nginx can act as a reverse proxy server which works just like a project manager  When it gets a request it analyses it and forwards the request to upstream project members  or handles itself  Nginx has two ways of handling a request based on how its configured    serve the request forward the request to another server  server   server name mydomain com sub mydomain com    location       proxy pass http   127 0 0 1 8000      proxy set header Host  host    proxy pass request headers on         location  static      alias  my static files path           Server the request     With this configuration  when the request url is   mydomain com static myjs js it returns the myjs js file in     my static files path folder  When you configure nginx to serve   static files  it handles the request itself    forward the request to another server     When the request url is  mydomain com dothis nginx will forwards the   request to  http   127 0 0 1 8000  The service which is running on the   localhost 8000 port will receive the request and returns the response   to nginx and nginx returns the response to the client    When you run node js server on the port 8000 nginx will forward the request to node js  Write node js logic and handle the request  That s it you have your nodejs server running behind the nginx server   If you wish to run any other services other than nodejs just run another service  like Django  flask  php on different ports and config it in nginx

User · Answer

I proxy independent Node Express applications through Nginx   Thus new applications can be easily mounted and I can also run other stuff on the same server at different locations   Here are more details on my setup with Nginx configuration example      Deploy multiple Node applications on one web server in subfolders with Nginx      Things get tricky with Node when you need to move your application from from localhost to the internet       There is no common approach for Node deployment       Google can find tons of articles on this topic  but I was struggling to find the proper solution for the setup I need       Basically  I have a web server and I want Node applications to be mounted to subfolders  i e  http   myhost demo pet-project   without introducing any configuration dependency to the application code       At the same time I want other stuff like blog to run on the same web server       Sounds simple huh  Apparently not       In many examples on the web Node applications either run on port 80 or proxied by Nginx to the root       Even though both approaches are valid for certain use cases  they do not meet my simple yet a little bit exotic criteria       That is why I created my own Nginx configuration and here is an extract   upstream pet project     server localhost 3000     server     listen 80    listen      80    server name frontend     location  demo pet-project       alias  opt demo pet-project public       try files  uri  uri   pet-project         location  pet-project       rewrite  demo pet-project      1 break       proxy set header X-Real-IP  remote addr      proxy set header X-Forwarded-For  proxy add x forwarded for      proxy set header Host  proxy host      proxy set header X-NginX-Proxy true       proxy pass http   pet project      proxy redirect http   pet project   demo pet-project               From this example you can notice that I mount my Pet Project Node application running on port 3000 to http   myhost demo pet-project       First Nginx checks if whether the requested resource is a static file available at  opt demo pet-project public  and if so it serves it as is that is highly efficient  so we do not need to have a redundant layer like Connect static middleware       Then all other requests are overwritten and proxied to Pet Project Node application  so the Node application does not need to know where it is actually mounted and thus can be moved anywhere purely by configuration       proxy redirect is a must to handle Location header properly  This is extremely important if you use res redirect   in your Node application       You can easily replicate this setup for multiple Node applications running on different ports and add more location handlers for other purposes     From  http   skovalyov blogspot dk 2012 07 deploy-multiple-node-applications-on html

User · Answer

You could also use node js to generate static files into a directory served by nginx  Of course  some dynamic parts of your site could be served by node  and some by nginx  static    Having some of them served by nginx increases your performance

User · Answer

I made a repository in Github which you can clone  vagrant-node-nginx-boilerplate  basically the node js app at  var www nodeapp is   var http   require  http    http createServer function  req  res      res writeHead 200    Content-Type    text plain       res end  Hello World n       listen 4570   127 0 0 1     console log  Node Server running at 127 0 0 1 4570       and the nginx config at  etc nginx sites-available  is  server           listen 80 default server          listen      80 default server           root  var www nodeapp          index index html index htm           server name localhost           location               proxy pass http   127 0 0 1 4570            proxy http version 1 1            proxy set header Upgrade  http upgrade            proxy set header Connection  upgrade             proxy set header Host  host            proxy cache bypass  http upgrade

User · Answer

answering your question 2   I would use option b simply because it consumes much less resources  with option  a   every client will cause the server to consume a lot of memory  loading all the files you need  even though i like php  this is one of the problems with it   With option  b  you can load your libraries  reusable code  and share them among all client requests   But be ware that if you have multiple cores you should tweak node js to use all of them

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