How to Create a Reverse Proxy in Nginx

A reverse proxy server directs the client requests to the appropriate backend server. Today, we will learn how to create a Reverse Proxy in Nginx. To demonstrate that, we use the Ubuntu 22.04. Using the Ubuntu’s command line, we will implement a set of commands to first install the Nginx and then create a reverse proxy.

Without any further ado, let’s get started!

Following are the steps that are used to create a Reverse Proxy in Nginx:

Step 1: Update the System and Install Nginx

We begin by updating the machine before installing Nginx on our system:

sudo apt update

Let’s now install Nginx on our system by executing the following command:

sudo apt install nginx

The installation begins as soon as the command is issued. Next, we start the Nginx service using this command:

sudo systemctl start nginx

We can now enable the Nginx service with this command:

sudo systemctl enable nginx

You will get the following output which tells you that Nginx is enabled.

Now, let’s check the status of Nginx. We need to make sure that it is running.

sudo systemctl status nginx

The output tells us that Nginx is running fine. Now, we can move to the next step which is configuring the Nginx as a reverse proxy.

Step 2: Configure Nginx as Reverse Proxy

In this step, let’s configure Nginx as a reverse proxy. This can be achieved by creating a reverse proxy configuration file as shown in the following:

nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/custom_proxy.conf

Once the file is created, add the following configuration lines to the file:

server {

listen 80;

listen [::]:80;

server_name myexample.com;

location / {

proxy_pass http://localhost:3000/;

}

}

Now, save the proxy configuration file and exit.

We need to link the new proxy configuration file. This is done with the help of the following command:

ln -s /etc/nginx/conf.d/custom_server.conf

Step 3: Test the Configuration

Let’s now check the Nginx configuration using the following given command:

sudo nginx –t

If you get the following output, this means that the Nginx configuration is fine and there’s no error in it:

Let’s restart the Nginx with this command:

sudo nginx -s reload

Advanced Proxy Configuration

The configurations that we added in the proxy configuration file are enough to create a basic reverse proxy. However, for complex applications, you’ll need to add more configurations to the file.

Configure the Buffers

To configure the buffers, add the following lines in the file:

location / {

proxy_pass http://localhost:3000/;

proxy_buffering off;

}

Configure the Request Headers

To configure the request headers, add the following lines:

location / {

proxy_pass http://localhost:3000/;

proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

}

Conclusion

In today’s guide, we saw in detail how to create the Nginx Reverse Proxy. To do that, we first installed Nginx on our Linux system. Then, we created an Nginx Reverse Proxy configuration file. Lastly, we applied the new configurations for Nginx to start working as a Reverse Proxy. We also discussed the advanced configuration options that can be added to the Nginx reverse proxy config file if needed.

We hope you liked the tutorial.