What is Nginx Webserver? Beneift of Using NGINX Web Server
Nginx is a great example for an open source web server. It is one of the very first web servers to be made available for developers. As of now, Nginx doesn’t just function in the role of a web server. You will also be able to use it as a load balance, HTTP cache, and a reverse proxy. In this article, we will share more details with you on what is nginx and what is it used for. Based on this understanding, you can start using Nginx web server to get work done.
Nginx is quite popular among different large-scale tech companies out there. Some of the perfect examples for companies that use Nginx include Intel, Apple, Facebook, Cisco, LinkedIn, Xerox, Adobe, Google, IBM, and Microsoft. The creator of Nginx is Igor Sysoev, and he developed that back in the year 2004. Continue to read and let’s learn more about what is Nginx all about. This understanding will also help you to figure out what is Nginx used for as well.
What is Nginx Server?
What is Nginx server? Nginx is a web server, which is also capable of functioning in the form of a reverse proxy. You have the freedom to scale up Nginx in the form of a reverse proxy. However, it is not providing you the chance to allocate a process to a specific connection. Instead, it will develop a process pool. You will be able to share the process pool among different connections that exist within the same network.Once you make a resource, you can get a resource allocated to a process. This will help you to end up with securing better
resource utilization. It can also help you with managing different extensive connections as well. You have the freedom to use Nginx and set up a secured connection in between the entities that exist out of your network and the data centers. Moreover, you have the freedom to use Nginx as a load balancer, where you can experiment with many different load balancing techniques. This understanding on what is Nginx can be highly useful when you implement that for practical purposes.
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How Does the Nginx Server Work?
Now you know what is Nginx all about. Before you practically start using it, you should be aware of how does nginx work? One of the most important things to keep in mind about Nginx is that it is developed to provide high concurrency as well as low memory usage. Instead of creating new processes for different web requests, Nginx would continue to use asynchronous requests. This would make sure that the worker is capable of ensuring concurrent working without blocking out the other requests.
Benefits of Using the NGINX Server
As the next part of this article on what is Nginx, let’s take a look at the advantages of using Nginx. These advantages of using Nginx would convince to stick to it, without taking a look at other different options available out there for you to consider.
One of the key nginx benefits is that it comes along with a consistent written base when compared to alternative options available out there to consider. On the other hand, Nginx can offer a friendlier configuration format to you as well. You will be able to get your work done with ease due to the presence of a modern design. Hence, you will rarely come across the need to work along with other alternatives for web servers.
Another great thing about Nginx is that it is an event based web server. Therefore, you have the freedom to handle many different connections without having to go through any overheads. There is no context switching as well. It would use lesser resources and memory.On top of everything, Nginx has the potential to make your websites run faster. There are multiple benefits that you can secure by making your websites run faster. For example, it will make sure that you are capable of securing better rankings on Google with ease. On the other hand, Nginx is highly compatible with different web applications such as Joomla, Python, and Ruby. You will be able to use Nginx in order to transform dynamic content into static content without a struggle.
If there is a need for you to manage concurrent connections, Nginx will be a great option available to consider. In fact, you can manage thousands of concurrent connections at the same time without having to worry too much about anything.
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Disadvantages of Using NGINX
There are some drawbacks in using Nginx as well. As the next part of this article on what is Nginx, we will walk you through what those drawbacks as well. If you are familiar with Apache, you cannot expect the same level of community support from Nginx. In fact, the level of community support that you can expect out of Nginx is lesser when compared to what is available with Nginx. On the other hand, Nginx provides a lesser number of extensions and modules when compared to Apache. This might hinder the useful work that you can get out of Nginx.
What is Nginx Used for?
There are many different uses of Nginx. Here are some of the key uses that come along with Nginx as of now. If you have a familiar use case, you may come up with the decision to go ahead and start using it.
1- Nginx Delivers a Single Entry Point
A great thing about Nginx is that it can offer a single entry point. This can offer multiple benefits within a containerized environment. That’s because it will be possible for you to deploy or destroy the containers as needed. However, you will still be maintaining a single entry point, so that different users will be able to have access to different services in a better approach. In other words, Nginx will deliver a better solution to all the workers.
It will also be possible for you to continue with using Nginx servers at your disposal. This will assist you with balancing the load and routing traffic along with a stable IP address. Moreover, Nginx is capable of accepting user requests and then forwarding them into the most appropriate container out there.
2- Nginx Offers Multiple Backend Applications
If you take a look at the Nginx cluster, you will notice how it is capable of handling the traffic that comes from many different applications concurrently. It will also be possible for you to use the Nginx to proxy all sorts of incoming traffic for the different HTTP endpoints. They will eventually route each and every request to the most appropriate service at the end of the day. Moreover, you have the freedom to update the rules without having to worry about a downtime. You will also be able to keep an Nginx instance available, where it will be able to take care of complex applications quite effectively.
3- A/B Testing
You can get comprehensive A/B testing capabilities out of Nginx as well. This will assist you with rolling out different microservices applications in the way how you want them to work. On the other hand, it will be possible for you to use Nginx and split incoming traffic to different destinations as well. After you deploy a new microservice, it will be possible for you to split traffic and route those users to the application. This will help you to measure the KPIs and monitor traffic, so that you can experience the difference in how two versions are capable of handling traffic in a real-time basis.
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4- Caching Capabilities of Nginx
Once you start using Nginx, you will be able to get a cache for dynamic content as well as static content. This would improve overall performance that you can get out of Nginx. In fact, it will cost you some money to route each and every request coming for data into the microservice that is generating it. It will be possible for you to implement micro-caching to data only for a short time period. This would minimize the overall load on back-end infrastructure. Moreover, this will assist you with insulating the applications in case of a very high traffic load in order to perform smoothly without scaling the different resources that are available to you.
Conclusion
On this article, you were able to get a better overall understanding of what is Nginx all about. You will be able to consider it as one of the most useful web servers available out there to consider as of now. Instead of using Nginx only in the form of a web server, you may also think about using it as a reverse proxy, email proxy, and a load balancer. The asynchronous structure of Nginx is going to offer multiple benefits to you in the long run.