Nginx+passenger application config: ssl redirection, http headers, passenger optimal settings. see details: http://mikhailov.posterous.com/nginx

nginx.conf

user  app;
worker_processes  2;

error_log   /home/app/logs/nginx.error.log  info;

events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}


http {
    passenger_root /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.0;
    passenger_ruby /usr/local/bin/ruby;

    # Passenger never sleeps!
    passenger_pool_idle_time 0;

    # Use more instances, because memory is enough
    passenger_max_pool_size 15;

    include       mime.types;
    default_type  application/octet-stream;

    client_max_body_size 25m;

    gzip                    on;
    gzip_disable            "msie6";
    gzip_vary               on;
    gzip_min_length         512;
    gzip_buffers            256 8k;
    gzip_comp_level         3;
    gzip_proxied            any;
    gzip_types              text/plain text/css application/x-javascript text/xml application/xml;

    server_tokens           off;

    sendfile                on;
    keepalive_timeout       65;

    include /opt/nginx/conf/nginx_host.conf;

    # Start application instantly
    passenger_pre_start https://127.0.0.1/;

}

nginx_host.conf

server {
    listen       80;
    server_name  *.server.com

    # There is ssl-only content, so redirection is permanent
    # No need to use ssl_requirement plugin here
    rewrite ^(.*) https://$host$1 permanent;

    # Block bots who like track urls (php usually)
    location ~ \.php$ {
       deny  all;
    }
}


# HTTPS server
server {
  listen       443;
  server_name  *.server.com

  ssl                  on;
  ssl_certificate      /etc/ssl/selfsigned/cert.pem;
  ssl_certificate_key  /etc/ssl/selfsigned/cert.key;

  ssl_session_timeout  5m;

  ssl_protocols  SSLv2 SSLv3 TLSv1;
  ssl_ciphers  ALL:!ADH:!EXPORT56:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW:+SSLv2:+EXP;
  ssl_prefer_server_ciphers   on;

  root /home/app/public_html/your_project/current/public;
  index index.html;

  passenger_enabled on;

  # Spawn 10 instances, because memory is enough 
  passenger_min_instances 10;

  error_page   500 502 504  /500.html;
  location = /50x.html {
      root   html;
  }

  # 503 -> static for POSTs could cause 405
  recursive_error_pages on;


  # Maintenance page handle
  if (-f $document_root/system/maintenance.html) {
       return 503;
  }

  error_page 503 @503;
  location @503 {
          error_page 405 = /system/maintenance.html;
          # Serve static assets if found.
          if (-f $request_filename) {
                  break;
          }
          if (-f $document_root/system/maintenance.html) {
                  rewrite ^(.*)$ /system/maintenance.html break;
          }

          rewrite ^(.*)$ /503.html break;
  }


  # Block bots who like track urls (php usually)
  location ~ \.php$ {
          deny  all;
  }

  # Set max-age headers to assets
  location ~* \.(png|gif|jpg|jpeg|css|js|swf|ico)(\?[0-9]+)?$ {
      access_log off;
      expires max;
      break;
  }

}