Sample nginx configuration for NodeJS + SocketIO app

node nginx configuration

# Load balancer configuration
upstream exampleApp {
    # Directs to the process with least number of connections.
    least_conn;

    # One failed response will take a server out of circulation for 20 seconds.
    server 127.0.0.1:10080 fail_timeout=20s;
    #server 127.0.0.1:10081 fail_timeout=20s;
    #server 127.0.0.1:10082 fail_timeout=20s;
    #server 127.0.0.1:10083 fail_timeout=20s;
}

# WebSocket "upgrade" method
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default upgrade;
    ''      close;
}

# Server settings
server {
    # Listen on 80 and 443
    listen 80;
    listen 443 ssl;

    root /var/www/exampleApp/;

    # Make site accessible from http://exampleApp.com/
    server_name exampleApp.com;

    # Logs
    access_log /var/log/nginx/exampleApp_access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/exampleApp_error.log;

    # Certificate chained with a certificate authority bundle.
    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/exampleApp.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/exampleApp.key;

    # Redirect all non-SSL traffic to SSL.
    if ($ssl_protocol = "") {
        rewrite ^ https://$host$request_uri? permanent;
    }

    # pass the request to the node.js server with the correct headers
    location / {
        # Setting proxy headers
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy true;

        proxy_pass http://exampleApp/;
        proxy_redirect off;

        # WebSocket headers
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;

        # Optional headers for better security
        # HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) tells a browser that the website should only be accessed through a secure connection.
        # add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=31536000;
        # Never allow content to be framed to avoid clickjacking attacks
        # add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
    }
}