Nginx as a Reverse Proxy

Nginx is a high-performance web server commonly used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and SSL terminator.

Why Use a Reverse Proxy?

• Hides backend servers from the public internet
• Terminates SSL in one place
• Enables load balancing across multiple instances
• Serves static files efficiently

Basic Reverse Proxy Config

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name example.com;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
  }
}

SSL Termination with Certbot

# Install Certbot
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Obtain and install certificate
sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com

Load Balancing

upstream backend {
  server app1:3000;
  server app2:3000;
  server app3:3000;
}

server {
  listen 80;
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://backend;
  }
}