this config distro specific:
There are sites-available/ and sites-enabled/, default setting file includes sites-enabled/*.
Server files are usually put in sites-available/ and symlinked to sites-enabled/.

Options are called directives. They can live inside blocks (contexts) which define the scope they apply. Contexts are hierarchical: main, (http, mail, stream), server, location.

An array directive (e.g.: fastcgi_param) is basically any directive that can be used more than once in a single context. Each subsequent declaration (in the same scope) will append the new information to what Nginx knows from the previous declarations. Any declaration in sub-scope will clear the declarations in the parent scope.

Access Control

NGINX Docs | Restricting Access with HTTP Basic Authentication
Protecting Folders with Nginx » KBeezie

Dynamic Drive: .htaccess password generator

Snippets

h5bp/server-configs-nginx: Nginx HTTP server boilerplate configs
timgws/handy-nginx-includes: 'best practice' nginx configuration includes.
lebinh/nginx-conf: A collection of useful Nginx configuration snippets ❗!important
danielrichman/nginx-config-snippets: nginx config snippets: gzip, catchall, domain c14n, ssl, uwsgi, php, wordpress

Internals

Inside NGINX - NGINX
Inside NGINX: Designed for Performance & Scalability
Boosting NGINX Performance 9x with Thread Pools

NGINX Internal Architecture - Workers - YouTube

server-configs-nginx/how-nginx-works.md at master · h5bp/server-configs-nginx
How nginx processes a request

How we scaled nginx and saved the world 54 years every day

nginScript

Launching nginScript and Looking Ahead - NGINX
nginScript - why create our own JavaScript implementation?
nginScript - A New and Powerful Way to Configure NGINX - NGINX
nginScript Documentation | NGINX

System service

Debian/Ubuntu

https://github.com/JasonGiedymin/nginx-init-ubuntu > https://github.com/hulihanapplications/nginx-init-debian

$ sudo service nginx
configtest    force-reload  reload        restart       start         status        stop

systemd

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx.service

Modules

3rdPartyModules - Nginx Community
Emiller's Guide to Nginx Module Development

Module	Link
Auth Digest	https://github.com/samizdatco/nginx-http-auth-digest
nginx-jwt	https://github.com/auth0/nginx-jwt
Echo	https://github.com/agentzh/echo-nginx-module
Fancy Indexes	https://github.com/aperezdc/ngx-fancyindex
Log If	https://github.com/cfsego/ngx_log_if/
PageSpeeed	http://ngxpagespeed.com/ngx_pagespeed_example/
MP4 streaming	http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_mp4_module.html

Use Cases

Static file serving

user http;

server {
    listen   80;
    server_name  domain.com www.domain.com;
    access_log   /var/log/nginx/static_server.log combined;
    root   /home/www;
    location / {
        index  index.php index.html index.htm;
        # Directory listing
        autoindex on;
    }
    # Password protect a directory
    location ^~ /secret_folder/ {
        auth_basic            "Restricted Area";
        # relative to this config file
        auth_basic_user_file  conf/htpasswd;
    }
}

sudo htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/conf/htpasswd <USER>

Setup group and ownership of www folder

sudo -v
mkdir /home/www
usermod -a -G http ${USER}
chown -R http:http /home/www
chmod -R g+w /home/www

Linux ACLs - Servers for Hackers

mkdir /home/www
getfacl /home/www
setfacl -R -m u:${USER}:rwx /var/www

Proxy

Load balancing (computing) - Wikiwand
Using nginx as HTTP load balancer
NGINX Load Balancing - HTTP and TCP Load Balancer
Module ngx_http_proxy_module
Module ngx_http_upstream_module

Use Nginx as a Front-end Proxy and Software Load Balancer
How To Configure Nginx as a Web Server and Reverse Proxy for Apache on One Ubuntu 14.04 Droplet | DigitalOcean

Add this to hosts:

127.0.0.1   mynodeapp.dev

Uses upstream module for abstraction and load balancing

# node.conf

# using node app as an example backend
upstream node {
    server http://127.0.0.1:3000;
    server unix:/tmp/mynodeapp.socket;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mynodeapp.dev;
    location / {
            proxy_pass node;
            proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    }
}

Reverse proxy with `proxy_pass`

Using NGINX to Serve .NET Core, Nodejs, or Static Contents - DZone Web Dev

Add this to hosts:

127.0.0.1   api.github.localhost

Add this to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/api.github:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name api.github.localhost;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header Host api.github.com;
        proxy_pass https://api.github.com/;
    }

    access_log      /var/log/nginx/github_access.log combined;
    error_log       /var/log/nginx/github_error.log error;
}

Reverse proxy with resolver

Nginx resolver explained - The Matrix has you...

This allows the service to resolve dynamically to solve the issue when service is not available at Nginx startup (which causes start failure).

http {
    resolver 172.16.0.23;
}

server {
    set $upstream_endpoint http://service-999999.eu-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com; # No trailing slash
    location /test/ {
      rewrite ^/test/(.*) /$1 break;
      proxy_pass $upstream_endpoint;
    }
}

We can generate resolver directive upon boot (or in ENTRYPOINT) with:

echo resolver $(awk 'BEGIN{ORS=" "} $1=="nameserver" {print $2}' /etc/resolv.conf) ";" > /etc/nginx/conf/resolvers.conf

http {
    include resolvers.conf;
}

Redirect

Redirect to https

server {
    server_name _;
    rewrite ^ https://example.com$request_uri permanent;
}

How To Redirect www to Non-www with Nginx on Ubuntu 14.04 | DigitalOcean

Status page

Module ngx_http_api_module

HTTP/2

spun from SPDY from Google

HTTP/2

HTTP 2.0 With Nginx - Servers for Hackers
How To Set Up Nginx with HTTP/2 Support on Ubuntu 16.04 | DigitalOcean

HTTP/3

spun from QUIC from Google

HTTP/3 - HTTP over QUIC is the next generation by Daniel Stenberg - YouTube
Understand HTTP3 in 5 minutes - Je suis un dev

CORS

enable cross-origin resource sharing
Example Nginx configuration for adding cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) support to reverse proxied APIs
Wide-open CORS config for nginx
How CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) Works? - The Startup - Medium
Cross Origin Resource Sharing (Explained by Example) - YouTube

Node/Nginx

these settings are not tested

How To Set Up a Node.js Application for Production on Ubuntu 14.04 | DigitalOcean
How To Deploy Node.js Applications Using Systemd and Nginx | DigitalOcean
How To Host Multiple Node.js Applications On a Single VPS with nginx, forever, and crontab | DigitalOcean
使用 Docker + Nginx 部署前端项目 - 掘金 SSG and Next.js SSR
How to run a Node.js server with Nginx - LogRocket Blog
rubenv/node-systemd: Support for running node.js as a socket-activated service under systemd
Deploying Node.js with systemd · Ruben Vermeersch (rubenv)

# node.conf

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost
    location / {
        root   /home/www;
    }
    location /api/ {
        # forward API endpoint to internal API server
        proxy_pass http://192.168.1.10:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    }
}

Nginx status page

location /nginx_status {
    # Turn on nginx stats
    stub_status on;
    # I do not need logs for stats
    access_log   off;
    # Security: Only allow access from 192.168.1.100 IP #
    allow 192.168.1.100;
    # Send rest of the world to /dev/null #
    deny all;
}

Nginx

References

Tips and Tricks

OpenResty

Presentations

Nginx Unit

Tengine

Amplify

vs Apache

Configuration

Access Control

Snippets

Internals

nginScript

System service

Debian/Ubuntu

systemd

Modules

Use Cases

Static file serving

Proxy

SSL Termination

Docker

CGI

Reverse Proxy/Load Balancing

Reverse proxy with proxy_pass

Reverse proxy with resolver

Redirect

Status page

HTTP/2

HTTP/3

CORS

Node/Nginx

Nginx status page

Reverse proxy with `proxy_pass`