Nginx Appliance

A generic Nginx Docker container that you can configure at runtime via HTTP API. It was built using Configurator, which means soon it will also integrate with various configuration stores (Consul, Etcd, ...).

It also means you can make a programmable appliance like this for any open source utility... but let's focus on Nginx for now.

Getting the container

The container is available on the Docker Index:

$ docker pull progrium/nginx

Using the container

Getting the welcome page

$ docker run -d -p 8000:80 progrium/nginx
$ curl localhost:8000

Okay, that's maybe a little too trivial. The default Nginx config, big deal.

Configure Nginx into a reverse proxy

You've done this before. But have you done it like this?

$ docker run -d -p 8000:80 -p 9000:9000 progrium/nginx

Add an upstream called app that points to tired.com:80:

$ curl -d '{"upstream": {"app": {"server": {"tired.com:80": null}}}}' localhost:9000/v1/config/http

Turn the default server into a proxy to app:

$ curl -d '{"server": [{"listen": 80, "location": {"/": {"proxy_pass": "http://app"}}}]}' localhost:9000/v1/config/http

Now hit that port 8000:

$ curl localhost:8000

You re-programmed the Nginx appliance with curl.

Configure Nginx to serve your static files

Run with a volume mount to a location like /static:

$ docker run -d -p 8000:80 -p 9000:9000 -v /your/files:/static progrium/nginx

Reconfigure the default server to use /static as the root and turn on autoindex:

$ curl -d '{"root": "/static", "autoindex": true}' localhost:9000/v1/config/http/server/0

See your files:

$ curl localhost:8000/

Working with the Nginx configuration

See the current configuration:

$ docker run -d -p 8000:80 -p 9000:9000 progrium/nginx
$ curl localhost:9000/v1/config/

See a subset or specific value of that Nginx configuration:

$ curl localhost:9000/v1/config/http/server_names_hash_bucket_size

Change that value:

$ curl -d '{"server_names_hash_bucket_size": 128}' localhost:9000/v1/config/http

See the full REST API and experiment...

See the actual rendered Nginx configuration being used

$ curl localhost:/v1/render

Hook up your Nginx appliance to a configuration store

Coming soon. Pull your custom config from Consul, have your HTTP changes stored there, and...

Use configuration macros to pull more data from your config store

Coming soon. Make your configuration dynamic with macros that reference config store values:

{
	...
	"http": {
		"server_names_hash_bucket_size": {"$value": "/consul/path/to/value"}
		...
	}
	...
}

Values are watched and cause the Nginx configuration to change in real-time.

Iteration and conditionals with macros

Coming soon. The embedded macro language supports all your standard templating functionality.

AND MORE...

Get the idea?

Sponsor

This project was made possible thanks to DigitalOcean.

License

BSD

progrium/nginx-appliance