Introduction to NGINX

🌟 Course Title: Introduction to NGINX

Course Headline:

Unlock the Power of High-Performance Web Handling with NGINX (With Docker)

Understand and Deploy Layer 4/Layer 7 Load Balancing, WebSockets, HTTPS, HTTP/2, TLS 1.3 with NGINX (With Docker)

NGINX has carved out a significant niche in the web server ecosystem by offering robust and versatile solutions for handling web traffic. As an open-source software that runs on Linux, it's not just a web server but also a powerful reverse proxy, load balancer, and more. This course is your gateway to mastering NGINX, providing you with the knowledge to deploy your own secure and efficient web services using this incredible tool.

Course Overview:

By the end of this comprehensive introductory course, you will have a solid understanding of what NGINX is, its use cases, and how to leverage it effectively for various purposes, including as a load balancer, web server, or even a secure application front-end. You'll learn through hands-on examples, such as installing NGINX on a macOS system, serving static content, configuring regular expressions, and setting up a proxy to backend services using Docker.

Key Topics Covered:

1. What is NGINX? 🧐

   • Understanding the role of NGINX in modern web architectures.

2. NGINX Use Cases 🆕

   • Exploring real-world applications and scenarios where NGINX shines.

3. Layer 4 and Layer 7 Proxying in Nginx 🌐

   • Diving into the intricacies of routing traffic at different levels of the OSI model.

4. NGINX Timeouts ⏳

   • Setting up timeouts to ensure efficient handling of web requests.

5. Hands-On Example:

   • Install Nginx (mac) 💻
     • Step-by-step guidance on installing NGINX on macOS.
   • Nginx as a Web Server 🖥️
     • Serving static content and understanding the role of root directive.
     • Applying regular expressions to route traffic intelligently.
     • Utilizing proxy_pass for front-end requests to backend services.
   • Nginx as a Layer 7 Proxy 🔗
     • Configuring NGINX to proxy to multiple NodeJS services running in Docker containers.
     • Implementing IP_Hash load balancing for even distribution of traffic.
     • Splitting the load between different applications (app1/app2).
     • Setting up access controls and blocking specific requests (e.g., /admin).

6. NGINX as a Layer 4 Proxy 🔧

   • Understanding how NGINX operates at the transport layer.

7. Create DNS Record 🌍

   • Setting up domain name system (DNS) records for routing traffic.

8. Enable HTTPS on NGINX (lets encrypt) 🔒

   • Configuring SSL/TLS certificates and setting up secure connections.

9. Enable TLS 1.3 on NGINX 🚀

   • Upgrading to the latest version of the Transport Layer Security protocol for enhanced security.

10. Enable HTTP/2 on NGINX 🅿️

    • Optimizing web performance by enabling HTTP/2 protocol support.

A Closer Look at NGINX:

NGINX stands as one of the solutions to the C10K problem, offering an event-driven architecture that provides high concurrency and a minimal memory footprint. Unlike traditional servers, NGINX doesn’t rely on threads to handle requests but instead uses a more scalable approach, which makes it ideal for a wide range of scenarios—from small VPS instances to large server clusters. Its efficiency and flexibility allow you to build robust, secure, and high-performance web services tailored to your needs.

Join us in this journey to explore the full potential of NGINX and how it can be leveraged with Docker to create a resilient and scalable infrastructure for your web applications. Whether you're a developer, sysadmin, or just someone interested in web technologies, this course will equip you with the practical skills needed to excel with NGINX. 🚀🐘

Enroll now and take the first step towards becoming an expert in NGINX deployment and management!