---
title: "Nginx"
description: "How to install and configure nginx as a reverse-proxy web server for the Corridor Platform."
---

<figure>
  <img src="/images/technology/nginx.png" alt="Nginx logo" class="screenshot" loading="lazy" />
  <figcaption>Nginx</figcaption>
</figure>

This section described how to use nginx ([https://nginx.org/en/](https://nginx.org/en/)) as a web server, one of the two [reverse-proxy options](/technology/installation/components/web-server/) supported alongside [Apache](/technology/installation/components/web-server/apache/).
The Platform's server components can be made highly performant by using the lightweight Nginx as a reverse-proxy
along with a WSGI server. Using nginx enabled the server to scale to a large number of users with ease.

To use Nginx, it needs to be installed in the system the daemon should be running with the
appropriate site configurations setup.

## Installation

The official installation instructions can be found at [https://nginx.org/en/docs/install.html](https://nginx.org/en/docs/install.html)

The recommended method of installation is to use the package manager provided by the Operating System (apt-get, yum, etc.).

**RedHat:**

```sh
yum install nginx
```

**Ubuntu:**

```sh
apt install nginx
```

## Configurations

Once installed, the nginx configuration needs to be created to proxy the web server components as described in
[https://nginx.org/en/docs/beginners_guide.html#proxy](https://nginx.org/en/docs/beginners_guide.html#proxy)

Here is an example nginx configuration that sets up the Web Application Server and also routes the
`/jupyter` endpoint to the Jupyter component:

```nginx
server {
  listen 80;
  server_name localhost 0.0.0.0;

  client_max_body_size 100m;
  gzip on;
  gzip_vary on;
  gzip_min_length 10240;
  gzip_proxied expired no-cache no-store private auth;
  gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml text/javascript application/x-javascript application/javascript application/xml application/json ;
  gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.";

  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_pass http://localhost:5002;
    proxy_read_timeout 3600;
  }

  location /jupyter {
    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_pass http://localhost:5003;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    proxy_read_timeout 86400;
  }
}
```

:::note
If the nginx is not listening on port 80 - but listens on another port, the
`proxy_set_header` for `Host` may have to be modified to `proxy_set_header Host $http_host` to
ensure the correct host information is passed.
:::

:::note[Note: Permission issues]
In case of permission issues, ensure user permissions and SELinux is set up correctly.
:::

:::note[Note: Large file uploads]
If large files are expected to be uploaded, there are two settings that need to be modified
<br>
&emsp; 1. add `proxy_request_buffering off`<br>
&emsp; 2. add `client_max_body_size 0;`<br>
to server directive which expects large file size payload.
This will disable nginx from buffering the large payload files and optimize disk space consumption.
:::