nginx – and gzip

i only have vdsl at home and host my website via it… the following graphs shows when nginx started serving faster than the vdsl connection could handle (which is about 9Mbits)

ngnix with cache enabled, gzip enabled and set to 6

http://loadimpact.com/load-test/sigtar.com-6a246200e28f354c64582cf2c0b6ce46

ngnix with cache enabled, gzip enabled and set to 9 (maximum)

http://loadimpact.com/load-test/sigtar.com-1422b3e7250c4e3acb7868177f2b2056

ngnix with cache disabled, gzip enabled and set to 9 (maximum)

http://loadimpact.com/load-test/sigtar.com-19561e7422e24f35fb557c662d20beac

 

nginx – setup as reverse proxy

Previously to take down this wordpress site all you needed to do was hold down F5 for about 20 seconds then the site would take about 5 mins to recover.

There were a few factors causing this and quite a few different methods to solving the problem. WordPress itself is run on php / apache, apache has an evasive mod which can block certain IPs depending on the defined abusive behavior (typical DDOS attack). Since i like to run a few websites behind a single IP i looked at fixing the issue closer to the perimeter….

Enter nginx (engine x) as a reverse proxy, the site now typically caches all content and serves it straight out of memory. No longer does mysql / apache kill itself under high load on the backend…

nginx

You will need to create the nginx directories if they dont already exist. Check /var/log/nginx/error.log (default ubuntu) if any issues starting the service.

sudo aptitude install nginx
sudo service nginx start

The following added to http {}
(located in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf)

log_format cache '***$time_local '
'$remote_addr '
'$upstream_cache_status '
'Cache-Control: $upstream_http_cache_control '
'Expires: $upstream_http_expires '
'"$request" ($status) ';
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log cache;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
proxy_cache_path /var/www/nginx_cache levels=1:2
keys_zone=one:10m
max_size=1g inactive=30m;
proxy_temp_path /var/www/nginx_temp;

the following added to location / {}
(located in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default)

proxy_pass http://sigtar;
proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
proxy_redirect off;
proxy_buffering on;
proxy_buffer_size 16k;
proxy_buffers 32 16k;
proxy_cache one;
proxy_cache_valid 200 302 304 10m;
proxy_cache_valid 301 1h;
proxy_cache_valid any 1m;
client_body_buffer_size 128k;
proxy_busy_buffers_size 64k;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_pass_header Set-Cookie;

Note if you have problems with wordpress redirect issues… check this post;

http://tommcfarlin.com/resolving-the-wordpress-multisite-redirect-loop/

Also confirm you have this line in http {}

server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;

Very basic load test, user load time is reasonably consistent as user count increases.
http://loadimpact.com/load-test/sigtar.com-ad07b7870a75c854a935752b0a032c53

load test

use nmap to port scan / find free IPS

I use angry IP scanner in windows, linux has a good util for port scanning an ip range called nmap;

Grab nmap from usual repositories

sudo nmap -sP 192.168.9.0/24 (will show hosts up and resolve mac addresses to vendors)

sudo nmap -v -sT 192.168.9.0/24 (will show hosts up and the various open ports)

sudo nmap -v -sT 192.168.9.104 (will show particular host and the various open ports)

Starting Nmap 6.00 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2013-07-12 11:48 NZST
Initiating ARP Ping Scan at 11:48
Scanning 192.168.9.104 [1 port]
Completed ARP Ping Scan at 11:48, 0.00s elapsed (1 total hosts)
Initiating Parallel DNS resolution of 1 host. at 11:48
Completed Parallel DNS resolution of 1 host. at 11:48, 0.00s elapsed
Initiating Connect Scan at 11:48
Scanning win2012-veeam.fritz.box (192.168.9.104) [1000 ports]
Discovered open port 111/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 445/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 3389/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 135/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 139/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 49155/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 1063/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 2049/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Discovered open port 3260/tcp on 192.168.9.104
Completed Connect Scan at 11:48, 4.21s elapsed (1000 total ports)
Nmap scan report for win2012-veeam.fritz.box (192.168.9.104)
Host is up (0.00059s latency).
Not shown: 991 filtered ports
PORT STATE SERVICE
111/tcp open rpcbind
135/tcp open msrpc
139/tcp open netbios-ssn
445/tcp open microsoft-ds
1063/tcp open kyoceranetdev
2049/tcp open nfs
3260/tcp open iscsi
3389/tcp open ms-wbt-server
49155/tcp open unknown
MAC Address: 00:50:56:9C:68:FA (VMware)

Read data files from: /usr/bin/../share/nmap
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 4.25 seconds
Raw packets sent: 1 (28B) | Rcvd: 1 (28B)

squid – reverse proxy

Great guide here – http://www.classhelper.org/articles/reverse-proxy-server-squid-debian/installing-squid-proxy-server.shtml

I’ve modified slightly for Ubuntu, but almost identical.

apt-get install squid
cp /etc/squid3/squid.conf /etc/squid3/squid.bak
rm /etc/squid3/squid.conf
nano /etc/squid/squid.conf

http_port 80 defaultsite=www.yoursite.com vhost
forwarded_for on
refresh_pattern ^ftp: 1440 20% 10080
refresh_pattern ^gopher: 1440 0% 1440
refresh_pattern . 0 20% 4320
cache_peer 192.168.0.13 parent 80 0 no-query no-digest originserver name=web1
acl sites_web1 dstdomain www.yoursite.com yoursite.com
cache_peer_access web1 allow sites_web1
cache_peer 192.168.0.14 parent 80 0 no-query no-digest originserver name=web2
acl sites_web2 dstdomain www.anothersite.com anothersite.com
cache_peer_access web2 allow sites_web2
acl all src 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
acl manager proto cache_object
acl localhost src 127.0.0.1/255.255.255.255
acl to_localhost dst 127.0.0.0/8
acl SSL_ports port 443
acl Safe_ports port 80 # http
acl Safe_ports port 443 # https
acl Safe_ports port 1025-65535 # unregistered ports
acl CONNECT method CONNECT
http_access allow sites_web1
http_access allow sites_web2
http_access allow manager all
http_access allow manager
http_access deny !Safe_ports
http_access deny CONNECT !SSL_ports
#http_access deny all
access_log /var/log/squid3/access.log
cache_mgr [email protected]

 

Modify your hosts file to include web1 and web2

nano /etc/hosts

192.168.0.13 web1
192.168.0.14 web2

Another good article about benefits of reverse proxy

http://2bits.com/articles/increasing-drupals-speed-squid-caching-reverse-proxy.html