🚀 NGINX Performance Optimization Guide

📋 Introduction

This comprehensive guide covers advanced NGINX configuration techniques to optimize performance, security, and resource management. We'll explore worker processes, timeout configurations, compression settings, caching mechanisms, and integration with MariaDB and PHP-FPM.

🔧 Initial Configuration Setup

Creating the Includes Directory

First, we'll create a dedicated directory for modular configuration files:

cd /etc/nginx/
sudo mkdir includes/
ls

Backing Up the Configuration

cd /etc/nginx
sudo cp nginx.conf nginx.conf.bak
sudo nano nginx.conf

⚙️ Main Context Configuration

The main context directives control global NGINX behavior and worker process settings.

worker_rlimit_nofile 30000;
worker_priority -10;
timer_resolution 100ms;
pcre_jit on;

🔄 Events Context Configuration

The events context controls how NGINX handles connections at the network level.

worker_connections 4096;
accept_mutex on;
accept_mutex_delay 200ms;
use epoll;

📝 Creating Modular Configuration Files

We'll create separate configuration files for better organization and maintainability:

cd /etc/nginx/includes/
sudo touch basic_settings.conf buffers.conf timeouts.conf file_handle_cache.conf gzip.conf brotli.conf
ls -l

1. Basic Settings Configuration

File: basic_settings.conf

##
# BASIC SETTINGS
## 
charset utf-8;
sendfile on;
sendfile_max_chunk 512k;
tcp_nopush on;
tcp_nodelay on;
server_tokens off;
more_clear_headers 'Server';
more_clear_headers 'X-Powered';
server_name_in_redirect off;
server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
variables_hash_max_size 2048;
types_hash_max_size 2048;
include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;

2. Buffer Settings Configuration

File: buffers.conf

##
# BUFFERS
## 
client_body_buffer_size 256k;
client_body_in_file_only off;
client_header_buffer_size 64k;
client_max_body_size 100m;
connection_pool_size 512;
directio 4m;
ignore_invalid_headers on;
large_client_header_buffers 8 64k;
output_buffers 8 256k;
postpone_output 1460;
request_pool_size 32k;

3. Timeout Configuration

File: timeouts.conf

##
# TIMEOUTS
## 
keepalive_timeout 5;
keepalive_requests 500;
lingering_time 20s;
lingering_timeout 5s;
keepalive_disable msie6;
reset_timedout_connection on;
send_timeout 15s;
client_header_timeout 8s;
client_body_timeout 10s;

4. Gzip Compression Configuration

File: gzip.conf

##
# GZIP
## 
gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.";
gzip_static on;
gzip_min_length 1400;
gzip_buffers 32 8k;
gzip_http_version 1.0;
gzip_comp_level 5;
gzip_proxied any;
gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml application/javascript application/x-javascript application/xml application/xml+rss application/ecmascript application/json image/svg+xml;

5. Brotli Compression Configuration

File: brotli.conf

##
# BROTLI
## 
brotli on;
brotli_comp_level 6;
brotli_static on;
brotli_types application/atom+xml application/javascript application/json application/rss+xml application/vnd.ms-fontobject application/x-font-opentype application/x-font-truetype application/x-font-ttf application/x-javascript application/xhtml+xml application/xml font/eot font/opentype font/otf font/truetype image/svg+xml image/vnd.microsoft.icon image/x-icon image/x-win-bitmap text/css text/javascript text/plain text/xml;

6. File Handle Cache Configuration

File: file_handle_cache.conf

##
# FILE HANDLE CACHE
## 
open_file_cache max=50000 inactive=60s;
open_file_cache_valid 120s;
open_file_cache_min_uses 2;
open_file_cache_errors off;

🔗 Integrating Configuration Files

Now we'll include all our modular configuration files in the main nginx.conf:

cd /etc/nginx
sudo nano nginx.conf

HTTP Context Structure

Remove the old directives and add includes:

http {
    ##
    # Basic Settings
    ##
    include /etc/nginx/includes/basic_settings.conf;

    ##
    # Gzip and Brotli Settings
    ##
    include /etc/nginx/includes/gzip.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/includes/brotli.conf;

    ##
    # Buffer Settings
    ##
    include /etc/nginx/includes/buffers.conf;

    ##
    # Timeout Settings
    ##
    include /etc/nginx/includes/timeouts.conf;

    ##
    # File Handle Cache Settings
    ##
    include /etc/nginx/includes/file_handle_cache.conf;

    ##
    # Virtual Host Configs
    ##
    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

✅ Testing and Validating Configuration

Configuration Syntax Testing

Always test your configuration before applying changes:

sudo nginx -t

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Common Errors and Solutions

Debugging with Line Numbers

Use the -L flag to open files with line numbers:

sudo nano -L /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Applying Changes

sudo systemctl reload nginx

📊 Managing Resource Limits

Checking NGINX Open File Limits

Determine the NGINX worker process ID and verify limits:

ps aux | grep www-data

View the limits for a specific process (replace XXX with actual PID):

cat /proc/XXX/limits

Adjusting Open File Limits

Update the worker file limit in nginx.conf:

worker_rlimit_nofile 45000;

Test and reload:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Verifying New Limits

Get the new PID and verify:

ps aux | grep www-data
cat /proc/XXX/limits

⚡ Creating Useful BASH Aliases

Aliases improve workflow efficiency by creating shortcuts for common commands:

cd ~
nano .bash_aliases

System Maintenance Aliases

alias server_update='sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt autoremove'

NGINX Management Aliases

alias ngt='sudo nginx -t'
alias ngr='sudo systemctl reload nginx'
alias fpmr='sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm'
alias ngsa='cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/ && ls'
alias ngin='cd /etc/nginx/includes/ && ls'

Activating Aliases

Switch to your user to load the new aliases:

su andrew

🗄️ MariaDB Optimization

Initial Security Setup

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Performance Schema Configuration

Navigate to MariaDB configuration directory:

cd /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/
sudo cp 50-server.cnf 50-server.cnf.bak
sudo nano 50-server.cnf

Enabling Performance Schema

# Performance Schema
performance_schema=ON
performance-schema-instrument='stage/%=ON'
performance-schema-consumer-events-stages-current=ON
performance-schema-consumer-events-stages-history=ON
performance-schema-consumer-events-stages-history-long=ON

Additional Optimizations

Skip Name Resolution

skip-name-resolve

Binary Log Retention

expire_logs_days = 3

InnoDB Buffer Pool Configuration

For a 1GB RAM server:

innodb_buffer_pool_size = 800M
innodb_log_file_size = 200M

sudo systemctl stop mariadb
sudo nano 50-server.cnf
# Add the directives above
sudo systemctl start mariadb

MariaDB Aliases

nano ~/.bash_aliases

alias mariare='sudo systemctl restart mariadb'

Using MySQLTuner

MySQLTuner analyzes your MariaDB performance and provides recommendations:

cd ~
mkdir MySQLTuner/
cd MySQLTuner/
wget http://mysqltuner.pl/ -O mysqltuner.pl
chmod +x mysqltuner.pl
sudo ./mysqltuner.pl

Setting MariaDB Open File Limits

Create systemd override directory:

cd /etc/systemd/system/
sudo mkdir mariadb.service.d/
cd mariadb.service.d/
sudo nano limits.conf

Add the following content:

[Service]
LimitNOFILE=40000

Apply changes:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart mariadb

Verifying MariaDB Limits

ps aux | grep mysql
cat /proc/XXX/limits

🐘 PHP-FPM Optimization

Creating Server Override Configuration

cd /etc/php/8.3/fpm/conf.d/
sudo nano server_override.ini

Security and Performance Settings

# HARDENING PHP
allow_url_fopen = Off
cgi.fix_pathinfo=0
expose_php = Off

# OPTIMIZE PHP
upload_max_filesize = 100M
post_max_size = 125M
max_input_vars = 3000
memory_limit = 256M

Configuring PHP-FPM Resource Limits

Open PHP-FPM configuration:

cd /etc/php/8.3/fpm/
sudo cp php-fpm.conf php-fpm.conf.bak
sudo nano php-fpm.conf

Find and update the resource limits:

rlimit_files = 32768
rlimit_core = unlimited

Applying PHP-FPM Changes

sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Verifying PHP-FPM Limits

ps aux | grep php-fpm
cat /proc/XXX/limits

🎯 Best Practices Summary

🔍 Troubleshooting Guide

Common Issues and Solutions

Useful Diagnostic Commands

# Check NGINX status
sudo systemctl status nginx

# Check error logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# Check MariaDB status
sudo systemctl status mariadb

# Check PHP-FPM status
sudo systemctl status php8.3-fpm

# Monitor system resources
htop

# Check listening ports
sudo netstat -tulpn | grep LISTEN

📖 Quick Reference

Essential Commands

🎓 Conclusion

This comprehensive guide has covered the essential aspects of NGINX performance optimization, including:

• Worker process and event handling configuration
• Timeout and keepalive optimization
• Compression with gzip and Brotli
• File handle caching for improved performance
• MariaDB tuning and security hardening
• PHP-FPM optimization and resource management
• Workflow enhancement with BASH aliases

Remember to always test configurations in a development environment before applying to production, and maintain regular backups of your configuration files.