Nginx Cheatsheet 20 — Production Nginx Setup

user www-data;
worker_processes auto;
worker_rlimit_nofile 65536;
pid /run/nginx.pid;

events {
    worker_connections 10240;
    use epoll;
    multi_accept on;
}

http {
    include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
    default_type application/octet-stream;
    
    server_tokens off;
    
    sendfile on;
    tcp_nopush on;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    
    keepalive_timeout 65;
    keepalive_requests 1000;
    
    client_body_buffer_size 16k;
    client_header_buffer_size 1k;
    client_max_body_size 10m;
    large_client_header_buffers 4 16k;
    
    types_hash_max_size 2048;
    server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
    
    open_file_cache max=10000 inactive=60s;
    open_file_cache_valid 30s;
    open_file_cache_min_uses 2;
    open_file_cache_errors on;
    
    # TLS
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
    ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305;
    ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:50m;
    ssl_session_timeout 1d;
    ssl_session_tickets off;
    ssl_stapling on;
    ssl_stapling_verify on;
    resolver 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8 valid=300s;
    resolver_timeout 5s;
    
    # Real IP
    set_real_ip_from 10.0.0.0/8;
    set_real_ip_from 172.16.0.0/12;
    real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
    real_ip_recursive on;
    
    # Logging
    log_format json escape=json '{'
        '"time":"$time_iso8601",'
        '"remote_addr":"$remote_addr",'
        '"method":"$request_method",'
        '"path":"$request_uri",'
        '"status":$status,'
        '"bytes":$body_bytes_sent,'
        '"referer":"$http_referer",'
        '"ua":"$http_user_agent",'
        '"rt":$request_time,'
        '"urt":"$upstream_response_time",'
        '"upstream":"$upstream_addr",'
        '"request_id":"$request_id"'
    '}';
    
    access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log json buffer=64k flush=5s;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
    
    # Compression
    gzip on;
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_proxied any;
    gzip_comp_level 6;
    gzip_min_length 256;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript application/json application/xml image/svg+xml application/wasm application/manifest+json;
    
    # Rate limiting
    limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=ip:10m rate=10r/s;
    limit_req_zone $http_x_api_key zone=api:10m rate=100r/s;
    limit_conn_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=conn_ip:10m;
    
    # Headers (defaults; override per-server if needed)
    map $sent_http_content_type $hsts_max_age {
        default 31536000;
    }
    
    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

upstream app {
    server 10.0.0.1:8000;
    server 10.0.0.2:8000;
    keepalive 64;
    keepalive_requests 1000;
}

# HTTP redirect
server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    
    location /.well-known/acme-challenge/ {
        root /var/www/html;
    }
    
    location / {
        return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
    }
}

# www → apex
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name www.example.com;
    
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;
    
    return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
}

# Main HTTPS
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name example.com;
    
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;
    
    # Security headers
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
    add_header Permissions-Policy "camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=()" always;
    add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'nonce-$request_id'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; img-src 'self' data: https:; connect-src 'self' https://api.example.com" always;
    
    # Rate limits
    limit_req zone=ip burst=20 nodelay;
    limit_conn conn_ip 50;
    
    # Block hidden files
    location ~ /\.(?!well-known) {
        deny all;
        access_log off;
        log_not_found off;
    }
    
    # Health endpoint
    location = /health {
        access_log off;
        return 200 "ok\n";
        add_header Content-Type text/plain;
    }
    
    # Static
    location ~* \.(css|js|woff2|svg|png|jpg|webp|ico)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
        access_log off;
        try_files $uri @app;
    }
    
    # API
    location /api/ {
        limit_req zone=api burst=200 nodelay;
        
        proxy_pass http://app;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Connection "";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Request-ID $request_id;
        
        proxy_connect_timeout 10s;
        proxy_send_timeout 60s;
        proxy_read_timeout 60s;
        
        proxy_next_upstream error timeout http_502 http_503 http_504;
        proxy_next_upstream_tries 2;
    }
    
    # SSE
    location /events {
        proxy_pass http://app;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Connection "";
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_cache off;
        proxy_read_timeout 24h;
    }
    
    # WebSocket
    location /ws {
        proxy_pass http://app;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_read_timeout 86400;
    }
    
    # SPA / app
    location / {
        try_files $uri @app;
    }
    
    location @app {
        proxy_pass http://app;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Connection "";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default upgrade;
    '' close;
}

# /etc/logrotate.d/nginx
/var/log/nginx/*.log {
    daily
    missingok
    rotate 14
    compress
    delaycompress
    notifempty
    create 0640 www-data adm
    sharedscripts
    postrotate
        [ -f /var/run/nginx.pid ] && kill -USR1 `cat /var/run/nginx.pid`
    endscript
}

# /etc/sysctl.d/nginx.conf
net.core.somaxconn = 65535
net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65535
fs.file-max = 2097152

# /etc/security/limits.d/nginx.conf
nginx soft nofile 65536
nginx hard nofile 65536

- run: nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf       # validate
- run: rsync -avz nginx/ server:/etc/nginx/
- run: ssh server "nginx -t && nginx -s reload"

tar czf nginx-config-$(date +%F).tar.gz /etc/nginx /etc/letsencrypt