commented nginx.conf for Ruby on Rails

nginx.conf

# A commented nginx configuration file for Ruby on Rails
#
# Author: Tommaso Pavese
#         [email protected]
#         http://tommaso.pavese.me
#
# License: http://www.wtfpl.net/
#
#
# Tested with:
#   Ubuntu 12.04
#   nginx  1.4.1 - 1.4.7
#   Rails  3.2 - 4.0
#   Unicorn, Thin and Puma
#
#
# Docs:
# http://nginx.org/en/docs/
#
# Configuration measurement units:
# http://nginx.org/en/docs/syntax.html
#
# Each module can define its variables, the core ones:
# http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#variables
#    
# 
# As reference, the official example for nginx + unicorn:
# https://github.com/defunkt/unicorn/blob/master/examples/nginx.conf
#
#
# In order to bind to port 80, the master process must be executed as root:
# $ sudo /usr/sbin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
#

# How to execute the worker processes
user user_name group_name;

# A single worker is enough for load balancing and reverse proxing.
# However:
#  Disk I/O can block an nginx worker (depends on disk read performance).
#  If the server is serving a lot of static files (e.g. assets) it is
#  a good idea to increase the number of worker processes.
worker_processes 1;


# The limit on the maximum number of open files for worker processes.
# "open files" is intended as UNIX open file descriptors.
# This overrides the limit set by the OS for the user the workers run as.
# Run `ulimit -a` in a shell to see the current limit.
worker_rlimit_nofile 2048;


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



# --------------------------------------------------------

events {
  worker_connections 1024; # increase if you have lots of clients
  accept_mutex off;        # "on" if nginx worker_processes > 1
  use epoll;               # best for Linux 2.6+ ("kqueue" for FreeBSD, OSX)
}



# --------------------------------------------------------

http {
  # disables emitting nginx version in error messages
  # and in the “Server” response header field
  server_tokens off;

  # MIME types
  include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
  
  # fallback MIME type if the client doesn't specify it.
  default_type application/octet-stream;  

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

  # TCP settings
  tcp_nopush on;
  tcp_nodelay off;


  # use unix sendfile()
  sendfile on;

  # gzip compression
  gzip on;
  gzip_http_version 1.0;
  gzip_proxied any;
  gzip_vary on;
  gzip_min_length 500;
  gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.";
  gzip_types text/plain text/xml text/css
             text/comma-separated-values
             text/javascript application/x-javascript
             application/javascript application/json
             application/atom+xml;
             # text/html is included by default


  # According to the HTTP standard, headers with underscores are perfectly valid.
  # However, nginx defaults to dropping headers containing underscores, as they
  # might introduce ambiguities when mapping headers to CGI variables.
  #
  # Since this is not a problem with Ruby on Rails, we can safely enable them.
  underscores_in_headers on;




  # --------------------------------------------------------
  # It's possible to organize the server configuration in different files.
  #
  # Typically, these site-specific files contain at least:
  #  - a server{} block
  #  - an upstream{} block
  #
  # The convention is to store configuration files in:
  #    /etc/nginx/sites-availbale/
  #
  # and then symlink them into:
  #    /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
  #
  # with:
  #  $ ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-availbale/example.com.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example.com.conf 
  #
  # After that, send a HUP signal to the nginx master to reload the configuration on the fly:
  #  $ sudo kill -HUP `cat /var/run/nginx.pid`
  #
  #
  include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;





  # --------------------------------------------------------
  # upstream destinations
  #
  # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_upstream_module.html#upstream
  #
  # fail_timeout=0 means we always retry an upstream even if it failed
  # to return a good HTTP response.
  # This happens when the Unicorn master nukes a single worker for timing out.
  #
  # Sockets can be opened at any location where the user has writing access,
  # even inside the rails_root/tmp/sockets directory
  #
  # We can also use IP addresses and domain names, and mix them together.
  #
  # If more than one destination server is specified, the requests
  # are distributed using a weighted round-robin balancing method.
  #
  # Important:
  #   Unicorn workers can all listen on the same Unix socket (or TCP port)
  #   at the same time.
  #   However, this might not be true for other servers.
  #   A cluster of Thins, for example, will require a Unix socket per process.
  #   Look at the second upstream block for an example.
  
  # This works well with Unicorn (yes, even with several workers)
  upstream rails_app_one {
    server unix:/tmp/rails_app_one.sock  fail_timeout=0;
  }

  # This will work with a cluster of 3 Thin servers
  upstream rails_app_two {
    server unix:/tmp/rails_app_two.0.sock  fail_timeout=0;
    server unix:/tmp/rails_app_two.1.sock  fail_timeout=0;
    server unix:/tmp/rails_app_two.2.sock  fail_timeout=0;
  }

  # This is weird, but it would still work.
  upstream rails_app_three {
    server unix:/tmp/rails_app_three.sock         fail_timeout=0;
    server 192.168.0.7:8080                       fail_timeout=0;
    server 127.0.0.1:3000                weight=3 fail_timeout=0;
    server backendworker.example.com     weight=5 fail_timeout=0;
  }

  # --------------------------------------------------------
  # servers


  # This server listens to port 80 and 443, and is configured to accept
  # both HTTP and HTTPS traffic on the same domain.
  # The Rails app can then decide to enforce HTTPS on the whole application
  # or only on specific controllers.
  #
  server {
    # Only one server can use the 'default_server' and 'deferred' options.
    listen 80 default_server deferred;

    # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#server_name
    #
    # Also accepts lists of names, wildcard characters and regular expressions.
    # Make sure that they all match the SSL/TSL certificate, if using one.
    # See the last server block for more examples.
    server_name www.example.com;

    # HTTPS
    # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/configuring_https_servers.html
    #
    # If the key has a passphrase, nginx will require it each time it will
    # boot or restart (making automatic management impossible).
    listen 443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/sslfiles/example_com_chained.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/sslfiles/example_com_ssl_nopf.key;
    ssl_session_cache   shared:example_ssl_cache:1m;
    ssl_session_timeout 5m;


    client_max_body_size 4G; # default 1M
    keepalive_timeout 20s;   # default 75s

    root /var/www/example/current/public;

    # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#try_files
    #
    # Tries URIs in sequence until one is found.
    # First we try to serve static files directly from nginx.
    # The rails application is the last alternative.
    #
    # See comment block at the end of the file for detailed examples.
    #
    # /maintenance.html can be symlinked into public/ to stop requests
    # before they reach the rails app (e.g. while updating the DB).
    # When it does not exist (normally), it's quickly skipped.
    #
    try_files /maintenance.html $uri $uri/index.html $uri.html @rails_app;


    # The location directory allows very creative configurations.
    # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#location
    #
    # This is just a named location to be used in try_files.
    location @rails_app {
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; # the client IP
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; # the client IP (again)
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; # pass scheme (for HTTPS)
      proxy_set_header Host $http_host; # the full host, for redirects within Rails
      proxy_redirect off; # disable nginx redirect-rewrite logic
      proxy_pass http://rails_app_one; # http is to be used even for https traffic
    }


    # Customize what html file should be served for different errors.
    error_page 500 502 503 504 /500.html;

    # This location block isn't strictly required, as '/500.html'
    # can also be served by 'try_files $uri', above. Still, this
    # location is more precise (thus has higher priority) and can
    # be used to further customize the error response.
    #
    # location = /500.html { }
  }

  # A redirect from the naked domain to www
  #
  # This listens to port 80, thus it can't handle HTTPS traffic.
  # (therefore, using $scheme instead of http is a bit useless)
  #
  # If the certificate is also compatible with the naked domain,
  # then this server block can be improved by replicating here
  # the SSL configuration of the main server.
  server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    return 301 $scheme://www.example.com$request_uri;
  }



  # ----------------------------

  # This server block features an efficient configuration
  # to serve the pre-gzipped version of the static assets

  server {
    listen 80;
    server_name .winter.is.coming.com
                www.winteriscoming.com
                *.winteriscoming.net;

    client_max_body_size 4G;
    keepalive_timeout 10s;

    root /var/www/winteriscoming/current/public;
    try_files $uri $uri/index.html $uri.html @rails_app;

    error_page 500 502 503 504 /500.html;


    location @rails_app {
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
      proxy_redirect off;
      proxy_pass http://rails_app_two;
    }

    # Location block for the assets.
    # See: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/asset_pipeline.html#gzip-compression
    #
    # '^~ /assets/' is a 'prefix string', not a regex.
    # '^~' will prevent further location searching after this location is matched.
    #
    # 'root' is inherited from the parent block. With the default Rails directory
    # structure it should point to 'app_root/public'.
    #
    location ^~ /assets/ {
      # To serve the pre-gzipped version of the files, if available.
      # The non-compressed versions MUST be available too, or a 404 will be returned.
      # The general gzip directives in the 'http' block are still applied.
      gzip_static on;

      # Since Rails automatically appends digest fingerprints to asset file names,
      # we don't need to worry about expiring them.
      expires max;
      add_header Cache-Control public;

      # Or:
      # expires 12h;
      # add_header Cache-Control "public, must-revalidate";
      
      # The 'try_files' directive is NOT inherited from the parent block.
      try_files $uri =404;

      # We could also use a less strict directive that falls back to the Rails app
      # if a requested asset cannot be found. In this case, the cache headers here
      # configured will be ignored and Rails will set them automatically.
      # try_files $uri @rails_app;

      # Normally the Rails app takes care of serving the static file 'public/404.html'
      # when a 404 occours. Here, however, it will be handled by nginx.
      error_page 404 /404.html;
    }
  }

}




# A note on $uri and the try_files directive:
#
# try_files /maintenance.html $uri $uri/index.html $uri.html @rails_app;
#
#
# /maintenance.html
#     if this file exists (likely a symlink), the app is probably not
#     available (updating the DB?). We serve it directly.
#
# $uri
#     it could be an asset.
#     e.g. assets/application.css
#
# $uri/index.html
#     it could be a directory in the file system. In that
#     case we look for an index.html file.
#
# $uri.html
#     it could be an actual html file.
#     e.g. 500.html
#
# @rails_app
#     finally, if all other tests fail, we pass the request to the app
#

Very helpful, thank you!

How does this compare to the old capistrano-puma nginx template?

Hey @climatebrad, to be honest this nginx config is over 10 years old 😮.
I haven't relied on this set up in production for a long time, and I don't know how up to date it is, to be honest.
I suppose it might still be valuable as a starting point, but I would suggest to carefully review it before using it.

As to your question, I've never used capistrano-puma that I recall, but back in the day I remember reviewing a lot of similar set ups from across the internet and OSS Rails projects, when coming up with my config above. I did test it with Puma, but back then I was mainly running Unicorns.

I'm new to all of this and naively thought that DIY deploying a rails project to a clean Ubuntu VPS would be straightforward :) I'm updating a 2007 rails project, ha!