NGINX Reverse Proxy for Performance, Security & Scale
When hosting services on NGNIX and other web servers, a reverse proxy can significantly improve the performance, resilience, scalability and security of application delivery. The key benefits of a reverse proxy are:
- Enhance Security with SSL Offload - Remove the security processing and administration overhead from NGNIX servers to the reverse proxy. A Reverse Proxy can protect NGNIX and other resources by offering features such as single sign-on (SSO) and IPS/IDS
- Improve Performance with Web Acceleration - Caching and compression of content on the Reverse Proxy along with optimizations such as HTTP/2 provide a better user experience
- Better Web Application Protection - A web application firewall (WAF) deployed on the Reverse Proxy can protect applications from well-known and emerging threats
- High Availability with Load Balancing - a Reverse Proxy can load balance user traffic between NGNIX and other servers based on multiple criteria such as server availability, load, request type and even geographic location.
Kemp LoadMaster ticks all the boxes for an easily deployed reverse proxy that secures and enhances the application delivery infrastructure. It is available as a virtual appliance that may be deployed on a local hypervisor, as a virtual appliance on major cloud platforms and as a physical device. Regardless of the deployment model, Loadmaster is a proven, easily managed, supported and fully featured Reverse Proxy for NGNIX and other web server environments to handle proxied requests efficiently.
In Fig 1. above, LoadMaster consolidates the core Reverse Proxy functionality into a single easily managed appliance. The performance, security, availability and scalability of the application environment is greatly enhanced by deploying LoadMaster as a Reverse Proxy for NGNIX.
Getting your LoadMaster Reverse Proxy for NGINX
LoadMaster is available as a 30-day trial or if you have traffic requirements of less than 20Mbit/s then you can have a LoadMaster for free. The trials are delivered as pre-built appliances for the major hypervisor platforms or if you wish, you can select the trial and free versions from the Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplaces.
Configuring LoadMaster as a Reverse Proxy for NGINX
The LoadMaster documentation set provides guidelines on how to deploy and configure a LoadMaster appliance to proxy application workloads on NGINX.
LoadMaster Reverse Proxy Features
- SSL Offload – LoadMaster can offload the SSL processing workload from the NGINX servers and also provide a single point of administration for SSL certificates and security.
- Context Switching – Redirection of requests to back-end servers based on the content of the request.
- DDOS Protection – LoadMaster includes a snort compatible engine to offer DDOS protection for NGNIX servers.
- Authentication – The Edge Security Pack in LoadMaster provides comprehensive authentication and single sign-on services for NGNIX.
- Caching and Compression – LoadMaster uses caching and compression as a way to improve NGNIX performance and reduce the load on application servers.
- SSL Redirect – Redirection of all non-HTTPS requests to HTTPS.
- Intelligent Session Persistence – Multiple options available to ensure clients are load balanced to the same server for the session lifetime.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF) – The LoadMaster WAF for NGNIX provides application-level protection from common and day-zero vulnerabilities.
- Global Load Balancing (GSLB) – Load balance NGNIX across multiple physical locations including cloud to provide disaster recovery failover and geo-aware traffic distribution.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the benefits of using a reverse proxy with NGINX?
- Proxy servers enhance security by blocking suspicious requests, implementing rate limiting and act as a firewall for applications.
- Effective load distribution across multiple servers prevents any single server from becoming overwhelmed, making the site responsive even during busy periods and preventing unplanned downtime.
- TLS/SSL processing can be "offloaded" to proxy servers, freeing up server resources for applications.
- Content caching is another functionality of a reverse proxy which makes it easier to deliver static content. This cached content is allocated a time-to-live to prevent the proxy server from storing stale content.
- Data Compression reduces bandwidth usage and improves response times for users. This is especially useful for users on slower connections.
- Can LoadMaster be used for NGINX deployments in the cloud?
Yes, LoadMaster can be used with NGINX deployments in the cloud. For more information: https://kemptechnologies.com/load-balancing-nginx
- What security features does LoadMaster provide for NGINX?
- Acts as the chokepoint for all internet traffic before it reaches backend servers
- Hides backend infrastructure by rewriting URLs and masking internal server details
- Blocks suspicious traffic with a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Enforces encryption to protect sensitive data in transit
- What is SSL offloading and how does it help NGINX servers?
LoadMaster offloads SSL/TLS encryption from backend servers, improving performance while simplifying certificate management.
- Handles SSL encryption at the proxy level, freeing up backend resources
- Centralizes SSL certificate management for easier updates and maintenance
- Ensures compliance with security standards such as FIPS-140-2
- How does LoadMaster handle caching and compression for NGINX?
Instead of forwarding every request to backend servers, LoadMaster reverse proxy stores and serves cached content when applicable. This allows frequently requested elements—such as logos, scripts, and images—to be delivered directly from the proxy without additional processing. By reducing the load on backend servers, LoadMaster increases scalability, making it ideal for high-traffic environments.
- What is the role of a web application firewall in a reverse proxy setup?
Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides advanced security measures, blocking threats before they reach application servers. This ensures protection against SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other cyber threats. TLS encryption further guarantees secure data transmission, reducing the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks.
- How does LoadMaster support high availability for NGINX?
LoadMaster optimizes network traffic to prevent server overload, ensure high availability, and improve performance. It dynamically distributes requests across multiple backend servers, maintaining seamless operations, even under heavy demand. Load balancing methods such as round-robin, least connections, and server health checks ensure that requests are intelligently routed based on real-time server conditions. If a server fails or reaches capacity, traffic is automatically redirected to a healthy server, preventing downtime and performance degradation.
