How to Setup a Nginx Reverse Proxy

A reverse proxy is a server that sits between client devices and a web server, forwarding client requests to the web server and returning the server's responses to the clients. Nginx is a popular web server that can also act as a reverse proxy. Here are the steps to setup a Nginx reverse proxy:

1. Install Nginx:

```
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx
```

2. Configure Nginx as a reverse proxy by editing the default configuration file:

```
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
```

3. Add the following configuration to the file:

```
server {
listen 80;
server_name your-domain.com;

location / {
proxy_pass http://your-web-server-ip:80;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
}
```

Replace "your-domain.com" with your domain name, and "your-web-server-ip" with the IP address of your web server. This configuration tells Nginx to listen on port 80 for requests to your domain name, forward those requests to your web server's IP address, and pass along the necessary headers to correctly identify the client's IP address.

4. Save the file and exit the text editor.

5. Test the Nginx configuration:

```
sudo nginx -t
```

If there are no errors, restart Nginx:

```
sudo systemctl restart nginx
```

6. Verify that Nginx is running and listening on port 80:

```
sudo systemctl status nginx
```

7. Test the reverse proxy by accessing your domain name in a web browser. You should see your website served from the web server, but the URL in the browser address bar should show your domain name rather than the IP address of the web server.

That's it! You have successfully setup a Nginx reverse proxy.