Kunnskapsbase

Nginx's default configuration works fine out of the box, but a few targeted tuning changes can meaningfully improve throughput and response times under real production traffic.

Prerequisites

• Nginx installed and running
• Root or sudo access

Tuning Worker Processes

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

worker_processes auto;
worker_connections 1024;

auto matches the worker count to available CPU cores. worker_connections sets the maximum simultaneous connections per worker.

Enabling Gzip Compression

gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_min_length 256;
gzip_comp_level 5;
gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;

Compression reduces transferred bytes for text-based assets significantly, at a modest CPU cost.

Enabling Static File Caching Headers

location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|woff2)$ {
    expires 30d;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
}

Enabling Nginx's Built-in Proxy Cache (For Reverse Proxy Setups)

proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=app_cache:10m max_size=1g inactive=60m;

server {
    location / {
        proxy_cache app_cache;
        proxy_cache_valid 200 10m;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
    }
}

Tuning Buffer Sizes

client_body_buffer_size 16k;
client_max_body_size 20m;
client_header_buffer_size 1k;

Increase client_max_body_size if your app needs to accept larger uploads — otherwise Nginx rejects them with a 413 error.

Enabling HTTP Keepalive

keepalive_timeout 65;
keepalive_requests 100;

Applying Changes

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Measuring the Impact

curl -w "@-" -o /dev/null -s https://yourdomain.com <<'EOF'
    time_total:  %{time_total}s
EOF

For heavier load testing, tools like ab (Apache Bench) or wrk can simulate concurrent requests to compare before/after tuning.

Common Errors

413 Request Entity Too Large — increase client_max_body_size.

504 Gateway Timeout under load — tune proxy_read_timeout and check backend response times directly, not just Nginx settings.

Best Practices

• Change one setting at a time and measure the impact
• Enable gzip for text assets; skip it for already-compressed formats like JPEG/MP4
• Use proxy caching carefully — make sure dynamic/personalized content isn't cached incorrectly

FAQ

Will these changes work on a small VPS?
Yes — most of these settings reduce resource usage rather than increase it (e.g. gzip trades a small amount of CPU for significantly less bandwidth and faster page loads).

Related Articles

• How to Install Nginx on Ubuntu & Debian
• Nginx as a Reverse Proxy for Node.js/Docker Apps
• How to Set Up Basic Load Balancing with Nginx