Simple Reverse-proxy using nginx

Question

I am running a Rails app on http://localhost:3000, which I want to access as http://localhost. I am trying to use nginx to do reverse-proxy, and it seems like it should be simple but I haven't gotten it to work. I can access my app at http://localhost:3000 but I get no response at http://localhost. This is my first time toying with nginx so I am not sure what's wrong, where to look for more details. I also looked at 10+ Stack Overflow questions, nginx tutorials and questions but none of them have helped me so far.

Here's a snippet of /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

user www-data;
worker_processes  1;

error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;

events {
    worker_connections  1024;
    # multi_accept on;
}

http {
    include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log;

    sendfile        on;
    #tcp_nopush     on;

    #keepalive_timeout  0;
    keepalive_timeout  65;
    tcp_nodelay        on;

    gzip  on;
    gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.(?!.*SV1)";

    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

The only .conf file in the conf.d directory: /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf

upstream backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:3000;
}

server {
    listen 80;

    server_name localhost;

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/localhost.access.log;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
        proxy_redirect off;
        proxy_set_header   Host             $host;
        proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP        $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For  $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header  X-Forwarded-Proto  http;
        proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy true;
    }
}

I followed this page in setting it up.

Also, Content of /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default, also the only file in sites-enabled directory

server {
    listen   80 default;
    server_name  localhost;

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/localhost.access.log;

    location / {
            root   /var/www/nginx-default;
            index  index.html index.htm;
    }

    location /doc {
            root   /usr/share;
            autoindex on;
            allow 127.0.0.1;
            deny all;
    }

    location /images {
            root   /usr/share;
            autoindex on;
    }
}

And when I restart nginx... (the output)

$ sudo service nginx restart
Restarting nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
nginx.

And I see this in the log:

2014/10/15 23:28:12 [warn] 5800#0: conflicting server name "localhost" on 0.0.0.0:80, ignored

Is it required that you use nginx? There are other options if all you want to do is access your webapp on port 80 rather than the default 3000. — jmera
– jmera, Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 21:37
I can use anything that will do the port redirecting. What do you suggest? @jmera — Ji Mun
– Ji Mun, Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 21:43
I wasn't suggesting port redirecting. I was suggesting just running the rails app on port 80 on your dev machine: rails s -p 80. To achieve this you don't need nginx at all... usually, in a dev environment, you don't need an http server like nginx or apache. — jmera
– jmera, Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 21:45

Andrey Kopeyko · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-15 23:33:06Z

1

The problem is that server localhost:80 is defined twice :

in "conf.d/default.conf"
and in "sites-enabled/default"

and nginx gets confused when request to "localhost:80" arrives - which server should serve the request???

You should replace the server block in "conf.d/default.conf" file with content of the server block in your "sites-enabled/default" (removing it from there).

Because "conf.d/*.conf" files are intended for configuring modules\features, not for servers being hosted descriptions.

answered Dec 15, 2014 at 23:33

Andrey Kopeyko

1,56415 silver badges14 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

jmera · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-15 22:13:14Z

0

Change the default port: rails s -p 80

answered Oct 15, 2014 at 22:13

jmera

6844 silver badges16 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Simple Reverse-proxy using nginx

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related