Preface
The NGINX Cookbook aims to provide easy-to-follow examples to real-world problems in application delivery. Throughout this book, you will explore the many features of NGINX and how to use them. This guide is fairly comprehensive, and touches on most of the main capabilities of NGINX.
Throughout this book, there will be references to both the free and open source NGINX software, as well as the commercial products from NGINX, Inc., NGINX Plus and NGINX Controller. Features and directives that are only available as part of the paid subscription to NGINX Plus will be denoted as such. Because NGINX Plus is an application delivery controller (ADC), and provides many advanced features, it’s important to highlight these features to gain a full view of the possibilities of the platform.
The book will begin by explaining the installation process of NGINX and NGINX Plus, as well as some basic getting started steps for readers new to NGINX. From there, the sections will progress to load balancing in all forms, accompanied by chapters about traffic management, caching, and automation. The security chapter covers a lot of ground but is important, because NGINX is often the first point of entry for web traffic to your application, and the first line of application-layer defense. There are a number of chapters that cover cutting-edge topics such as HTTP/2, websockets, media streaming, cloud and container environments—wrapping up with more traditional operational topics such as monitoring, debugging, performance, and operational tips. The book will end with an introduction to NGINX Controller, an application-centric management platform.
I personally use NGINX as a multitool, and believe this book will enable you to do the same. It’s software that I believe in and enjoy working with. I’m happy to share this knowledge with you, and hope that as you read through this book you relate the recipes to your real-world scenarios and will employ these solutions.
Conventions Used in This Book
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
- Italic
-
Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.
Constant width-
Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program elements such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment variables, statements, and keywords.
Note
This element signifies a general note.
Warning
This element indicates a warning or caution.
Using Code Examples
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Hussein Nasser and Gonzalo Josue Spina for their helpful and detailed reviews of this title. I would also like to thank my wife for her support during the writing process.