🔹 1. What is Nginx (conceptually)?
- Nginx (pronounced “Engine-X”) is software that acts as a server.
- It was originally built as a web server (serving websites/pages).
- Over time, it evolved into a multi-purpose server software used for:
- Web serving (showing websites)
- Reverse proxying
- Load balancing
- Caching
- API gateway functions
👉 Think of it as a traffic manager for web requests.
🔹 2. The roles Nginx can play
- Web Server (basic role)
- Serves static files like HTML, CSS, JS, images directly to users.
- Example: If you put
index.html inside /usr/share/nginx/html, Nginx serves it at http://your-server-ip/.
- Reverse Proxy
- Forwards requests from clients → to another backend app (e.g., Node.js, Python, PHP).
- Clients only talk to Nginx, not directly to your backend.
- Useful for security and hiding internal architecture.
- Example:
- Browser → Nginx (port 80) → Python app (port 5000).
- Load Balancer
- Distributes traffic across multiple backend servers.
- Prevents one server from being overloaded.
- Example: Nginx receives 1000 requests → splits them among 3 backend servers.
- SSL/TLS Termination
- Handles HTTPS encryption (SSL certificates).
- Nginx manages secure connection → forwards plain traffic to backend.
- Saves backend servers from doing heavy encryption work.
- Caching Server
- Stores frequently requested content (like images, APIs) in memory/disk.
- Next time, Nginx serves it instantly without bothering backend.
- API Gateway (modern use case)
- Controls how clients access microservices.
- Adds rate-limiting, authentication, request routing.
🔹 3. Why Nginx is so popular
- Lightweight & Fast → Uses event-driven architecture (can handle thousands of connections with little memory).
- Scalable → Perfect for high-traffic websites.
- Flexible → One tool for static hosting, proxying, load balancing, etc.
- Open-source → Free to use, huge community support.
- Used Everywhere → Over 30% of the internet runs on Nginx (Facebook, Netflix, WordPress.com, etc.).