When building a website, many technicians will first consider a software called Nginx. With its excellent performance and small consumption of system resources, it has become the foundation of many high-traffic websites.
The origin and characteristics of Nginx
Russian engineer Igor Sesoev originally created Nginx to solve performance problems encountered by a well-known website in the country. Since its public launch in 2004, Nginx has quickly won recognition in the industry with its stable performance and efficient resource allocation capabilities.
Its core features include the ability to handle a large number of concurrent network connections, as well as a mechanism for efficiently distributing requests when serving as a reverse proxy server. These features enable it to maintain fast response and prevent server overloading in the face of instantaneous high traffic.
Widely used in China
Among domestic Internet companies, portals such as NetEase and Sina were the first to use Nginx to improve the speed of static content distribution as a means of speeding up. Their actions were launched at an early stage, and soon afterwards, its application scope was expanded to the category of video services.
Like early video platforms such as Ku6.com, Nginx is also used to handle a large number of video file requests. Such large-scale application practice further proves the reliability and high availability of Nginx in complex production environments.
Basic acquisition and authorization of software
For Nginx, users can obtain the source code or precompiled version directly from its official website. The software is released under a loose open source license, which gives individuals and businesses the freedom to use, modify, and even distribute their own modified versions.
This open authorization model has greatly lowered the threshold for enterprise use and also reduced compliance risks. This is also an important basis for its rapid popularity in the global developer community and an important basis for its continuous improvement.
Introduction to various startup methods
In Windows systems, directly double-clicking to run the nginx.exe file is the simplest startup method, and the program will quickly run in the background. Another way is to use the command line, first enter the Nginx installation directory, and then enter the "nginx" command to start the service.
If you need to keep the command line window unoccupied, you can use the "start nginx" command. After successful startup, in the system's task manager, you can generally see that there is a main process and a worker process running.
Initial verification and default configuration
After starting, you can check whether the service can run normally by accessing port 80 of the local computer. If you see the default welcome page, it means that the installation and deployment has been successful. This page actually corresponds to an HTML file in the Nginx installation directory.
All behaviors of Nginx are controlled by its configuration file. The default configuration file covers key parameters such as listening port, number of working processes, and error page definition. Understanding the structure of this file is the first step in developing any custom configuration.
Log management and function expansion
Nginx will record all access information and error information in detail. These records will be placed in access log files and error log files respectively. These logs are crucial for monitoring the running status of the website. They play an important role in analyzing user behavior and are essential for troubleshooting Internet faults. In addition, the configuration file also supports the use of variables and conditional judgments.
For example, developers can dynamically adjust the returned content or policies based on the client's device type or access path. These advanced features make Nginx not only a simple web server, but also a flexible web application delivery platform.
In any website or project you are currently responsible for, whether you are using server software like Nginx or other similar server software, when choosing it, which feature of it is the most important? You are welcome to share your experience and opinions in the comment area. If you feel that this article is helpful, please like it to support it.
