Nginx excels as a reverse proxy handling traffic before application servers. Load balancing distributes requests. Caching reduces origin load. SSL termination offloads encryption. Proper configuration maximizes these benefits.
Proxy Configuration
Configure upstream blocks defining backend servers. Set proxy headers preserving client information. Configure timeouts appropriate for your application. Enable keepalive connections reducing connection overhead.
- Define upstream blocks for backend server pools
- Set X-Real-IP and X-Forwarded-For headers
- Configure appropriate proxy timeouts
- Enable proxy buffering for large responses
- Use health checks for backend availability
Performance Tuning
Tune worker processes and connections for your hardware. Enable gzip compression reducing bandwidth. Configure caching for static and cacheable dynamic content. Monitor performance with access logs and metrics.