Optimizing Nginx in 2 Minutes: Fine-Tuning Essentials

After installing Nginx, navigate to the following path and update the specified variables in the nginx.conf file located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.

worker_processes auto;
worker_connections 1024;        

worker_processes auto; worker_connections 1024;

The default setting for Ubuntu's Nginx installation is 768 connections. In this initial test, we will modify this setting to 1024 and assess the impact of this change.

keepalive_timeout 25;
        

keepalive_timeout 25;

Adjust the KeepAliveTimeout setting to determine how long the server should wait for new requests from clients.

server_tokens off;
        

server_tokens off;

Enhance server security by turning off server_tokens in the Nginx configuration. This practice bolsters security and privacy, safeguarding web servers from potential vulnerabilities and attacks.

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

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

By default, the access log is enabled. Consider disabling it in a production environment or when unnecessary to avoid increased IO and potential slowdown.

gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_proxied any;
gzip_comp_level 6;
gzip_buffers 16 8k;
gzip_http_version 1.1;
gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;
gzip on; gzip_vary on; gzip_proxied any; gzip_comp_level 6; gzip_buffers 16 8k; gzip_http_version 1.1; gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;        

Utilize Gzip compression to decrease the amount of data transferred between the website and the browser over the network. This not only enhances user experience by accelerating page loading but also conserves data usage.