Nginx Use Cases

Nginx is more than a high-performance web server. It can improve your architecture by acting as a load balancer, reverse proxy, forward proxy, or caching layer—boosting scalability, reducing latency, and enhancing security.

Key benefits include:

• Distributing requests for high availability
• Offloading SSL/TLS and request routing
• Caching responses to cut backend load
• Controlling outbound traffic and anonymizing clients

Explore each use case below, complete with configuration examples, diagrams, and best practices.

Load Balancing

By distributing incoming requests across multiple servers, Nginx prevents any single backend from becoming a bottleneck. You declare an upstream block listing your servers, then proxy traffic to it.

upstream backend {
    server backend1.example.com;
    server backend2.example.com max_fails=3 fail_timeout=30s;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

Reverse Proxy

A reverse proxy accepts client requests, applies routing or SSL offloading, then forwards them to one or more backend servers. This hides your infrastructure behind a single public endpoint.

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name example.com;

    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/example.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass       http://internal_app;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Load Balancer vs. Reverse Proxy

Forward Proxy

A forward proxy sits between clients and the internet, filtering or anonymizing outbound requests. Configure Nginx to restrict sites or mask client IPs for privacy.

server {
    listen 3128;

    resolver 8.8.8.8;
    proxy_pass_request_headers on;

    location / {
        proxy_pass $scheme://$http_host$request_uri;
        proxy_hide_header Proxy-Authorization;
    }
}

Caching

Caching with Nginx reduces response times and eases load on backend services. Define a cache zone, set key parameters, and control how responses are stored.

proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=my_cache:10m 
                 inactive=60m max_size=1g;

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        proxy_cache my_cache;
        proxy_pass http://backend;
        proxy_cache_valid 200 302 10m;
        proxy_cache_valid 404 1m;
    }
}

Links and References

• Nginx Official Documentation
• HTTP Load Balancing with Nginx
• Using Nginx as a Forward Proxy
• Caching Guide in Nginx