1. Basic installation + config

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y

Main config file:

/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Sites configs:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Create default reverse proxy config:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/proxy.conf

Basic reverse proxy:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name _;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Enable + check:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/proxy.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

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2. Offline documentation install

(чтоб админ мог читать доки без инета)

Install Zeal dev docs (GUI) or dash equivalents:

CLI variant – devdocs offline:

sudo snap install zeal

Or host your own:

https://devdocs.io/offline

Better CLI docs:

sudo apt install -y manpages-dev
sudo apt install -y tldr
tldr nginx

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3. Additional PHP extensions

If using nginx + php-fpm:

sudo apt install php php-fpm php-cli php-mysql php-curl php-xml php-zip php-mbstring php-gd php-intl -y

Check PHP-FPM:

systemctl status php*-fpm

Nginx PHP-fpm upstream:

upstream backend-php {
    server unix:/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
}

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4. Five real proxy cases

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4.1 Simple local static webserver

Serves static files + browse directories

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/files;

    autoindex on;
    autoindex_exact_size off;
    autoindex_localtime on;
}

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4.2 Reverse proxy to internal Apache

Apache listens on 127.0.0.1:8080

server {
    listen 80;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
    }
}

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4.3 Proxy w/backend load-balancing

(как твой кейс)

upstream backend {
    server 10.0.1.10:2424;
    server 10.0.1.11:2424 backup;
}

server {
    listen 80;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

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4.4 Proxy cache for slow backend

(для WordPress, PHP, API – ускоряет админку)

proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=mycache:100m inactive=60m;

server {
    listen 80;

    location / {
        proxy_cache mycache;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9000;
        proxy_cache_valid 200 302 10m;
        proxy_cache_valid 404 1m;
    }
}

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5. Troubleshooting

Check syntax:

sudo nginx -t

Logs:

journalctl -xeu nginx
tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Check upstream connectivity:

curl -I http://127.0.0.1:8080

Reload:

sudo systemctl reload nginx