NGINX
NGINX
Date: 2026-01-31
Intro
NGINX is a high-perfomance open-source software that acts as a websever, reverse proxy and a load balancer, efficiently handling thousands of simulataneous connections by serving static content, managing traffic and improving application speed and security.
Key Functions of NGINX
- A web server - Serving static content
- A load balancer - Distributes incoming traffic across multiple backend servers
- A reverse proxy - Acts on behalf of a backend server by receiving requests
- Caching is a core functionality of NGINX proxy - This means a cached file is stored on standby such that when a request is received, there is no need to hit the server, especially on frequently requested content.
NGINX proxy is like the NAT of servers
- NGINX can also handle SSL/TSL encryption and decryption. They can also forward encrypted data to the backend servers to be decrypted.
- NGINX proxy can be configured for compression of large images or videos to save on bandwidth and also segmentation; sending response in chunks.
NGINX Configuration
NGINX is configured on a file named nginx.conf where a user can manually configure the working of NGINX. The following can be configured in the file ;
- NGINX as a web server or proxy server
- Configuring load balancing e.g. which load balancing algorithm to use
- Caching configuration e.g. how long data can live in the cache