ENABLE/DISABLE BUFFERING OF RESPONSES FROM THE FASTCGI SERVER. 

Enables or disables buffering of responses from the FastCGI server. When buffering is enabled, nginx receives a response from the FastCGI server as soon as possible, saving it into the buffers set by the fastcgi_buffer_size and fastcgi_buffers directives.

When buffering is disabled, the response is passed to a client synchronously, immediately as it is received. nginx will not try to read the whole response from the FastCGI server. The maximum size of the data that nginx can receive from the server at a time is set by the fastcgi_buffer_size directive.

Directive: fastcgi_buffering
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx fastcgi -buffering {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -buffering off

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SET THE NUMBER AND SIZE OF BUFFERS USED FOR READING RESPONSES FROM THE FASTCGI SERVER.

Sets the number and size of the buffers used for reading a response from the FastCGI server, for a single connection.

Directive: fastcgi_buffers
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Units: Number (buffer.quantity) K (buffer.size)
Default values: 8 64
Accepted values: integers

gp stack nginx fastcgi -buffers {b.quantity} {b.size}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -buffers 8 16

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SET THE BUFFER SIZE USED FOR READING THE FIRST PART OF THE RESPONSE FROM THE FASTCGI SERVER.

Sets the size of the buffer used for reading the first part of the response received from the FastCGI server. This part usually contains a small response header.

Directive: fastcgi_buffer_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Units: K
Default values: 128
Accepted values: integer

gp stack nginx fastcgi -buffer-size {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -buffer-size 16

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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LIMIT THE TOTAL SIZE OF BUFFERS THAT CAN BE BUSY SENDING A RESPONSE TO THE CLIENT WHILE THE RESPONSE IS NOT YET FULLY READ.

When buffering of responses from the FastCGI server is enabled, limits the total size of buffers that can be busy sending a response to the client while the response is not yet fully read. In the meantime, the rest of the buffers can be used for reading the response and, if needed, buffering part of the response to a temporary file.

Directive: fastcgi_busy_buffers_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Units: K
Default values: 256
Accepted values: integer

gp stack nginx fastcgi -busy-buffers-size {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -busy-buffers-size 64

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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UPDATE FASTCGI CACHE IN BACKGROUND WHILE STALE RESPONSE IS SERVED.

Allows starting a background subrequest to update an expired cache item, while a stale cached response is returned to the client. Note that it is necessary to allow the usage of a stale cached response when it is being updated, we do this by using the fastcgi_cache_use_stale updating; directive. It can also be enabled using the Cache-control: stale-* headers.

Directive: fastcgi_cache_background_update
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx fastcgi -cache-background-update {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -cache-background-update off

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SET THE MAXIMUM SIZE OF THE FASTCGI CACHE IN RAM

Define the maximum amount of RAM to be used by Nginx FastCGI Caching. Sets the max_size parameter of the fastcgi_cache_path directive.

Directive: fastcgi_cache_path max_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Unit: MB Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx fastcgi -max-cache-size {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -max-cache-size 512

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ENABLE REVALIDATION OF EXPIRED CACHE ITEMS USING CONDITIONAL REQUESTS

Enables revalidation of expired cache items using conditional requests with the If-Modified-Since and If-None-Match header fields.

Directive: fastcgi_cache_revalidate
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx fastcgi -cache-revalidate {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -cache-revalidate off

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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DEFINES A TIMEOUT FOR ESTABLISHING A CONNECTION WITH A FASTCGI SERVER.

Defines a timeout for establishing a connection with a FastCGI server. It should be noted that this timeout cannot usually exceed 75 seconds.

Directive: fastcgi_connect_timeout
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Unit: Seconds
Default values: 60
Accepted values: 1 – 75

gp stack nginx fastcgi -connect-timeout {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -connect-timeout 30

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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INSTRUCT THE FASTCGI SERVER TO KEEP CONNNECTIONS OPEN TO NGINX.

By default, a FastCGI server will close a connection right after sending the response. However, when this directive is set to the value on, nginx will instruct a FastCGI server to keep connections open. This is necessary, in particular, for keepalive connections to FastCGI servers to function.

Directive: fastcgi_keep_conn
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx fastcgi -keep-connections {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -keep-connections on

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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DEFINE A TIMEOUT FOR READING A RESPONSE FROM THE FASTCGI SERVER.

Defines a timeout for reading a response from the FastCGI server. The timeout is set only between two successive read operations, not for the transmission of the whole response. If the FastCGI server does not transmit anything within this time, the connection is closed.

Directive: fastcgi_read_timeout
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 60
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx fastcgi -read-timeout {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -read-timeout 30

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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DEFINE A TIMEOUT FOR TRANSMITTING A REQUEST TO THE FASTCGI SERVER.

Sets a timeout for transmitting a request to the FastCGI server. The timeout is set only between two successive write operations, not for the transmission of the whole request. If the FastCGI server does not receive anything within this time, the connection is closed.

Directive: fastcgi_send_timeout
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/fastcgi.conf
Context: http
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 60
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx fastcgi -send-timeout {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -send-timeout 30

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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PROXY CONFIGURATIONS

Nginx can be set up in a reverse proxy configuration that will allow an Nginx server to sit infront of another webserver and request will be passed from Nginx to the other webserver. This configuration is usually reserved for fusion stacks that have Nginx sitting infront of Apache2 or working as a load balancer. However at vCanopy we use this configuration for any sites where the ModSec firewall is enabled. We run Nginx as a caching reverse proxy infront of an Nginx FastCGI instance that is filtering request through the ModSec firewall. This vastly increases the performance of sites running the ModSec firewall by only filtering requests that miss the cache, as recommended by TrustWave.

The directive that Nginx uses to define the actual server to proxy to is proxy_pass.
Proxy directives are configured in the following file:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf

The following directives will configure different aspects of the Nginx caching reverse proxy and its management.

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ENABLE/DISABLE BUFFERING OF RESPONSES FROM THE PROXY SERVER.

Enables or disables buffering of responses from the Proxy server. When buffering is enabled, nginx receives a response from the Proxy server as soon as possible, saving it into the buffers set by the proxy_buffer_size and proxy_buffers directives.

When buffering is disabled, the response is passed to a client synchronously, immediately as it is received. nginx will not try to read the whole response from the Proxy server. The maximum size of the data that nginx can receive from the server at a time is set by the proxy_buffer_sizecode> directive.

Directive: proxy_buffering
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx proxy -buffering {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -buffering off

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SET THE NUMBER AND SIZE OF BUFFERS USED FOR READING RESPONSES FROM THE PROXY SERVER.

Sets the number and size of the buffers used for reading a response from the proxy server, for a single connection.

Directive: proxy_buffers
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Units: Number (buffer.quantity) K (buffer.size)
Default values: 8 64
Accepted values: integers

gp stack nginx proxy -buffers {b.quantity} {b.size}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -buffers 8 16

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SET THE BUFFER SIZE USED FOR READING THE FIRST PART OF THE RESPONSE FROM THE PROXY SERVER.

Sets the size of the buffer used for reading the first part of the response received from the proxy server. This part usually contains a small response header.

Directive: proxy_buffer_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Units: K
Default values: 128
Accepted values: integer

gp stack nginx proxy -buffer-size {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -buffer-size 16

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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LIMIT THE TOTAL SIZE OF BUFFERS THAT CAN BE BUSY SENDING A RESPONSE TO THE CLIENT WHILE THE RESPONSE IS NOT YET FULLY READ.

When buffering of responses from the proxy server is enabled, limits the total size of buffers that can be busy sending a response to the client while the response is not yet fully read. In the meantime, the rest of the buffers can be used for reading the response and, if needed, buffering part of the response to a temporary file.

Directive: proxy_busy_buffers_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Units: K
Default values: 256
Accepted values: integer

gp stack nginx proxy -busy-buffers-size {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -busy-buffers-size 64

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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UPDATE PROXY CACHE IN BACKGROUND WHILE STALE RESPONSE IS SERVED.

Allows starting a background subrequest to update an expired cache item, while a stale cached response is returned to the client. Note that it is necessary to allow the usage of a stale cached response when it is being updated, we do this by using the proxy_cache_use_stale updating; directive. It can also be enabled using the Cache-control: stale-* headers.

Directive: proxy_cache_background_update
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx proxy -cache-background-update {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -cache-background-update off

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SET THE MAXIMUM SIZE OF THE PROXY CACHE IN RAM

Define the maximum amount of RAM to be used by Nginx Proxy Caching. Sets the max_size parameter of the proxy_cache_path directive.

Directive: proxy_cache_path max_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Unit: MB Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx proxy -max-cache-size {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -max-cache-size 512

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ENABLES REVALIDATION OF EXPIRED CACHE ITEMS USING CONDITIONAL REQUESTS.

Enables revalidation of expired cache items using conditional requests with the If-Modified-Since and If-None-Match header fields.

Directive: proxy_cache_revalidate
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Default values: off
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx proxy -cache-revalidate {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -cache-revalidate on

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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DEFINES A TIMEOUT FOR ESTABLISHING A CONNECTION WITH A PROXY SERVER.

Defines a timeout for establishing a connection with a proxy server. It should be noted that this timeout cannot usually exceed 75 seconds.

Directive: proxy_connect_timeout
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Unit: Seconds
Default values: 60
Accepted values: 1 – 75

gp stack nginx proxy -connect-timeout {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -connect-timeout 30

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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INSTRUCT THE PROXIED SERVER TO KEEP CONNNECTIONS OPEN TO NGINX.

By default, a proxy server will close a connection right after sending the response. However, when this directive is set to the value on, nginx will instruct a proxied server to keep connections open. This is necessary, in particular, for keepalive connections to proxy servers to function.

Directive: proxy_keep_conn
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Default values: on
Accepted values: on | off

gp stack nginx proxy -keep-connections {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -keep-connections on

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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DEFINE A TIMEOUT FOR READING A RESPONSE FROM THE PROXY SERVER.

Defines a timeout for reading a response from the proxy server. The timeout is set only between two successive read operations, not for the transmission of the whole response. If the proxy server does not transmit anything within this time, the connection is closed.

Directive: proxy_read_timeout
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 60
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx proxy -read-timeout {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -read-timeout 30

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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DEFINE A TIMEOUT FOR TRANSMITTING A REQUEST TO THE PROXY SERVER.

Sets a timeout for transmitting a request to the proxy server. The timeout is set only between two successive write operations, not for the transmission of the whole request. If the proxy server does not receive anything within this time, the connection is closed.

Directive: proxy_send_timeout
Config location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf
Context: http
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 60
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx proxy -send-timeout {accepted.value}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -send-timeout 30

This directive may also be adjusted in the server and location contexts, to be applied on a site by site or location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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Configure Nginx per Site

These changes affect Nginx directives set in the server context, either directly in site specific configurations files included into the sites virtual server. As such these cli commands will make changes only to individual sites.

Site virtual server files are located here:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/{site.url}

And symlinked into here to become active:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/{site.url}

Sites also have common configuration files that are found here:

/etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-{config-name}.conf

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SITE NGINX LIMITS CONFIGURATIONS

The following directives will set different limits for a variety of Nginx features on a per site basis.

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SET THE MAXIMUM BURST SIZE REQUEST QUEUE FOR WHEN A ZONE RATE LIMIT HAS BEEN HIT.

Sets the maximum burst size of requests to queue when a zone rate limit has been hit. If the requests rate exceeds the rate configured for a zone, a queue is created from the burst number and processed with nodelay. Any requests that exceed this rate limit and burst are dropped with a 503 error code.

• Zone One: Defaults to a 1 request burst queue when the rate limit of 1 request per second has been exceeded. This zone protects the wp-login url. We do not recommend adjusting this zone burst. Consider it your login guard.
• Zone WP: Defaults to a 6 request burst queue when the rate limit of 3 request per second has been exceeded. This zone protects the wp-admin and specifically the admin-ajax endpoint. Certain plugins that hit this endpoint at a rapid rate may need this increasing temporarily to handle the rate. We recommend lowering the burst rate again once the process has been completed.

Zone One

Directive: limit_req
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-wpcommon.conf
Context: server
Accepted values: integer, fqdn

gp stack nginx limits -site-zone-one-burst {queue.size} {site.url}

Example:

gp stack nginx limits -site-zone-one-burst 1 vCanopy.com

Zone WP

Directive: limit_req
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-wpcommon.conf
Context: server
Accepted values: integer, fqdn

gp stack nginx limits -site-zone-wp-burst {queue.size} {site.url}

Example:

gp stack nginx limits -site-zone-wp-burst 20 vCanopy.com

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SET THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED SIZE OF THE CLIENT REQUEST BODY

Sets the maximum allowed size of the client request body, specified in the Content-Length request header field. If the size in a request exceeds the configured value, the 413 (Request Entity Too Large) error is returned to the client. Please be aware that browsers cannot correctly display this error. Setting size to 0 disables checking of client request body size.

Directive: client_max_body_size
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-wpcommon.conf
Context: server
Unit: MB
Default value: 512
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx limits -site-max-body-size {accepted.value} {site.url}

Example:

gp stack nginx limits -site-max-body-size 1024 vCanopy.url

This directive may also be adjusted in the location context, to be applied on a location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SITE FASTCGI CONFIGURATIONS

The following directives will adjust Fastcgi settings on a site per site basis.

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SETS CACHING EXPIRY TIME FOR ALL SUCCESSFUL REQUESTS GOING INTO FASTCGI CACHE.

Sets caching time for all requests that return a 200 success code on a per site basis.

Directive: fastcgi_cache_valid
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-fcgi-cache-var.conf
Context: server
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 1
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx fastcgi -site-cache-valid {accepted.value} {site.url}

Example:

gp stack nginx fastcgi -site-cache-valid 1800 vCanopy.url

This directive may also be adjusted in the location context, to be applied on a location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SITE PROXY CONFIGURATIONS

The following directives will adjust Proxy settings on a site per site basis.

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SETS CACHING EXPIRY TIME FOR ALL SUCCESSFUL REQUESTS GOING INTO PROXY CACHE.

Sets caching time for all requests that return a 200 success code on a per site basis.

Directive: proxy_cache_valid
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-proxy-cache-var.conf
Context: server
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 1
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx proxy -site-cache-valid {accepted.value} {site.url}

Example:

gp stack nginx proxy -site-cache-valid 1800 vCanopy.com

This directive may also be adjusted in the location context, to be applied on a location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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SETS CACHING EXPIRY TIME FOR ALL SUCCESSFUL REQUESTS GOING INTO REDIS SRCACHE PAGE CACHE.

Sets caching time for all requests that return a 200 success code on a per site basis.

Directive: redis2_query expire $key $cache_ttl
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-wp-redis.conf
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-proxy-http-rediscache.conf
Config location: /etc/nginx/common/{site.url}-proxy-https-rediscache.conf
Context: server
Unit: Seconds
Default value: 2592000
Accepted value: Integer

gp stack nginx redis -site-cache-valid {accepted.value} {site.url}

Example:

gp stack nginx redis -site-cache-valid 1200000 vCanopy.com

This directive may also be adjusted in the location context, to be applied on a location by location basis. You will need to do this manually using an include.

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