Nginx Reverse Proxy Setup on Centos 7
What is a Reverse Proxy?
A reverse proxy is a type of server that takes a client request, then forwards the request to a backend server and returns the response from the backend server to the client. Reverse proxies are commonly used to provide increased security for web applications, improve performance and help to reduce bandwidth usage by caching.
A reverse proxy can act as a single entry point for multiple servers, and can also provide additional security features such as load balancing, encryption, and authentication. Reverse proxies are also frequently used to manage SSL/TLS connections, allowing the proxy to provide client certificates when necessary and forward all other requests directly to the backend server without encryption.
What is Nginx?
Nginx is an open-source web server and reverse proxy software that is used to serve content on the web. It is one of the most popular web servers, and is known for its high performance, scalability, and reliability. Nginx is used by some of the most popular websites on the web, including WordPress, Reddit, and GitHub.
Nginx can be used as a reverse proxy for a variety of applications and services, including web servers, databases, and streaming media servers. It is also used in cloud computing environments to provide reverse proxy services for applications running on virtual machines.
Installing Nginx on Centos 7
Installing Nginx on a Centos 7 system is a relatively straightforward process. The first step is to download and install the EPEL package repository. EPEL is a “Special Interest Group” repo maintained by the Fedora Project. The package can be installed with the following command:
yum install epel-release
Once the repository has been installed, Nginx can be installed using the following command:
yum install nginx
The installation process will install the necessary files, create the required directories, and create a system user and group for Nginx. Once the installation is complete, Nginx can be started with the following command:
systemctl start nginx
Nginx can be enabled to start on boot with the following command:
systemctl enable nginx
Configuring Nginx Reverse Proxy
Once Nginx is installed and running, the next step is to configure the reverse proxy. To do this, the “proxy_pass” directive is used, which forwards requests to a specific backend server. This can be added to the configuration file for the virtual host that the requests will be forwarded to.
The proxy_pass directive should point to the URL of the backend server. A simple example is shown below, which forwards requests to a backend server running on port 8000:
proxy_pass http://localhost:8000/;
The proxy_pass directive can also accept a variable, which can be used to make the configuration more dynamic and flexible. For example, if the backend server URL is stored in the $proxy_backend variable, the proxy_pass directive could be written as follows:
proxy_pass $proxy_backend;
Once the proxy_pass directive has been added to the virtual host configuration, the rest of the configuration can be customized as needed. The options available are extensive, but most projects should require only a handful of them.
Security Considerations
Using a reverse proxy has the added benefit of providing an additional layer of security. Any requests that pass through the reverse proxy can be inspected and filtered before they reach the backend server. This can be used to prevent requests with malicious intent from reaching the server, or to block requests from known malicious sources.
For example, if a web application is vulnerable to a certain type of attack, the reverse proxy can be used to block requests for URLs that are known to be associated with the attack. This can be done by configuring a proxy_deny directive in the Nginx configuration, as shown below:
proxy_deny [ URL or URI ];
The above directive will block requests to the specified URL or URI, and return a 403 Forbidden error instead.
Conclusion
Nginx is a powerful and feature-rich web server and reverse proxy that can be used to serve a variety of applications. The process of configuring a reverse proxy with Nginx is relatively straightforward and can be used to provide additional security, performance and scalability for web applications. Security can be further enhanced by using the proxy_deny directive, which can be used to block requests from known malicious sources.
Thank You For Reading This Article
If you have any more questions about Nginx reverse proxies or web application security, please leave a comment below and we would be happy to help. Additionally, please take a moment to read our other articles on web development and cybersecurity.
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