Nginx - Reverse Proxy | Backend & Front End Example

gistfile1.nginxconf

upstream fuel {
     # Defines a group of servers. Servers can listen on different ports. 
     server IP:PORT fail_timeout=0;             
}

upstream frontend {
        server IP:PORT fail_timeout=0;      
}

server {
            listen IP:80;                                             
            # domains and IP address you want to serve 
            server_name .data.jarenglover.com SERVER_IP_ADDRESS;        
            access_log /path/to/log/on/server/nginx_access.log;         # set your logs 
           
            # note: uses diff logs for diff sub domains
            error_log /path/to/log/on/server/nginx_error.log;          

        location / {                                             
                    # requests on '/' will be proxy_pass 
                    #proxy server for sending data to node.js
                    proxy_pass http://frontend;                   
        }
        location /img {    
                    # remember let nginx handle static files not app code
                    root /path/to/static/files/frontend/app/;
        }

        location /api {               
            # requests to the API will be proxy_pass to the backend API infra
            # read this -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Forwarded-For
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; 
            
            # pass the host header from the client to help with redirects 
            proxy_set_header Host $http_host;           
            
            # stops nginx from doing something silly
            proxy_redirect off;                                
            
            # proxy_pass to backend API Django in my case
            proxy_pass http://api;                            
            
            # send the IP address and remote server address for secuirty 
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;          
            
            # Adds headers to the HTTP response 
            add_header P3P 'CP="ALL DSP COR PSAa PSDa OUR NOR ONL UNI COM NAV"';  
        }
    }

server {
        # If the remote server is not listed its goes to the default_server
       listen IP:PORT default_server;          
       return 404;
}