The Nginx Web Server Administration training course provides participants with comprehensive knowledge and practical skills to effectively administer and manage Nginx, a high-performance web server and reverse proxy server. Through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, and real-world scenarios, participants will learn essential Nginx concepts, configuration, optimization, and security practices. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to deploy, configure, and maintain Nginx servers in various production environments.
Duration 5 days – 35 hrs
Prerequisite
- Basic understanding of Linux/Unix operating systems
- Familiarity with web server concepts (e.g., HTTP, TCP/IP)
- Some experience with command-line interfaces (CLI)
Objectives
- Understand the architecture and features of Nginx as a web server and reverse proxy.
- Learn how to install, configure, and optimize Nginx for performance and scalability.
- Gain proficiency in managing virtual hosts, SSL/TLS encryption, and load balancing with Nginx.
- Develop skills in troubleshooting common Nginx issues and implementing security best practices.
- Apply advanced Nginx configurations for caching, HTTP/2 support, and dynamic content serving.
Audience
- System Administrators: Professionals responsible for configuring, deploying, and maintaining web servers in a production environment.
- DevOps Engineers: Individuals involved in the deployment, automation, and management of infrastructure and applications, including web server configurations.
- Web Developers: Developers who need to understand how web servers work and how to configure them to host their applications efficiently.
- IT Professionals: IT professionals involved in network infrastructure management, including those responsible for web server administration and optimization.
- Network Administrators: Professionals responsible for managing network infrastructure, including the setup and maintenance of web servers and reverse proxies.
- Cloud Engineers: Individuals working with cloud platforms who need to deploy and manage web servers for their cloud-based applications.
- Security Professionals: Professionals concerned with securing web server configurations, implementing SSL/TLS encryption, and managing access controls.
- Technical Support Staff: Support engineers who need to troubleshoot web server-related issues and provide assistance to end-users or internal stakeholders.
- Freelancers and Entrepreneurs: Freelancers and entrepreneurs who manage their web hosting infrastructure and want to optimize their web server configurations for performance and scalability.
- Anyone Interested in Learning Nginx: Individuals with a general interest in web server administration or those looking to expand their skills in managing web infrastructure.
Course Outline
Introduction to NGINX and Installation
- What is NGINX
- What is HTTP and How Does it work?
- NGINX vs Apache
- Install NGINX
- Lab: Installing NGINX on CentOS
NGINX as a Web Server
- Understanding the NGINX Architecture
- Understanding the Default NGINX Configuration
- MIME Types
- Overview of NGINX Chapters
- Lab: Simple Virtual Hosts and Serving Static Content
- Lab: Handling Error Pages
- Lab: Access Control with HTTP Basic Auth
- Lab: Generating Self-Signed Certificates
- Lab: Configuring the Host for SSL_TLS_HTTPS
- Lab: Redirecting All Traffic to HTTPS
- Lab: Adding Functionality to NGINX with Dynamic Chapters
Day 3 and day 4: Reverse Proxy
- Introduction to Reverse Proxy
- Lab: Configuring NGINX as a Reverse Proxy
- Lab: X-Real-IP
- Lab: FastCGI Proxy for PHP_WORDPRESS with fastcgi_parameter
- Lab: Simple Caching for Static Content
Load Balancing
- Introduction to Load Balancing
- Lab: Simple Load Balancer
- Lab: Health Checks in Load Balancer
- Lab: Understanding Passive Health Check
- Lab: Parameter Configurationsin Passive Health Checks
- Lab: Active vs Passive Health Checks
- Lab: Server Weights
The Caching Subsystem
- Introduction to HTTP Caching
- Understanding the HTTP Cache Control Headers
- Lab: Cache Control Headers no-store
- Lab: If-Modified-Since Header
Logging
- Understanding of NGINX Logging
- Lab: Configuring Custom Logging like Storing in Different Locations with Different Levels
Advanced NGINX Security
- Introduction to Web Application Firewall
- Introduction to NAXSI
- Improving SSL Configuration
- Lab: Installing and Configuring NAXSI
- Lab: NAXSI- Custom Messages on Rule Matching Patterns
Compression
- HTTP Compression
- Accept Content Encoding
- Lab: GZIP Compression for NGINX
