Nginx

NGINX is a high-performance web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer known for its ability to handle thousands of concurrent connections efficiently with minimal resource usage. Its widespread adoption makes it a cornerstone of modern web infrastructure.

Monitoring NGINX's performance metrics is essential for maintaining reliable web services. Through metrics like connection states, request rates, response codes, and upstream response times, operators can quickly identify issues, optimize performance, and ensure high availability of their web services.

Prerequisites

1 MW Host Agent

Middleware Host Agent (MW Agent) v1.6.1+ must be installed on your local machine. To install the MW Agent, see our Installation Guide.

2 Expose Nginx Metrics

To collect metrics from NGINX, your server must expose a local status endpoint which requires the NGINX binary to be compiled with the status module enabled. This module is crucial for the monitoring solution to scrape and report NGINX metrics.

There are two module which can expose these metrics.

Nginx Status Stub

This collects very basic level metrics and mostly enabled by default in your nginx installation. To check if it is available try the following command:

nginx -V 2>&1 | grep -o http_stub_status_module

This should output

http_stub_status_module

Most standard NGINX distributions include this module by default, but if you're using a custom build, you'll need to compile it from source.

DEB

RPM

DEB: Compatible with Debian or Debian-based operating systems. For AWS instances this includes Ubuntu and Debian.

# Install build dependencies
sudo apt-get install build-essential libpcre3 libpcre3-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev libssl-dev

# Download and extract nginx
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.24.0

# Configure with status module
./configure --with-http_stub_status_module

RPM: Compatible with Red Hat Package Manager and operating systems like Red Hat or CentOS. Use this for AWS instances using Amazon Linux.

# Install build dependencies
sudo dnf groupinstall 'Development Tools'
sudo dnf install pcre pcre-devel zlib zlib-devel openssl openssl-devel

# Download and extract nginx
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.24.0

# Configure with status module

To enable stub status monitoring, add this to your NGINX configuration. This is generally at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

location /nginx_status {
    stub_status on;
    access_log off;
    # Restrict access as needed
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}

Nginx virtual host traffic status module

To check if VTS module is installed:

nginx -V 2>&1 | grep -o nginx-module-vts

This should output:

nginx-module-vts

If the module isn't present, you have to install manually:

DEB

RPM

Docker

DEB: Compatible with Debian or Debian-based operating systems. For AWS instances this includes Ubuntu and Debian.

To install manually first check nginx version.

nginx -V

This outputs:

nginx version: nginx/1.24.0 (Ubuntu)  ### HERE IS YOUR NGINX VERSION 
built with OpenSSL 3.0.2 15 Mar 2022
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --with-cc-opt='-g -O2 -ffile-prefix-map=/build/nginx-dSlJVq/nginx-1.18.0=. -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' --with-ld-opt='-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -flto=auto -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fPIC' --prefix=/usr/share/nginx --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --lock-path=/var/lock/nginx.lock --pid-path=/run/nginx.pid --modules-path=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/body --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/fastcgi --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/proxy --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/scgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/uwsgi --with-compat --with-debug --with-pcre-jit --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_v2_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_slice_module --with-threads --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-dSlJVq/nginx-1.18.0/debian/modules/http-geoip2 --with-http_addition_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_sub_module

Before we download and install nginx from source, we need to remove the current installation

sudo apt remove nginx

Check if nginx is removed:

# This should output:
# bash: command not found: nginx
nginx -V

Now we need to download Nginx source, depending on our Nginx version.

# First, ensure you have the necessary tools to build Nginx:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential libpcre3 libpcre3-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev libssl-dev wget

Clone the VTS module repository:

git clone https://github.com/vozlt/nginx-module-vts.git

Download Nginx Source Code

wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
tar -xzvf nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.24.0

Run the configure script, including the path to the VTS module:

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/nginx \
            --add-module=../nginx-module-vts \
            --with-http_ssl_module \
            --with-http_stub_status_module \
            --with-http_v2_module \
            --with-stream

Build and install Nginx with the VTS module:

make
sudo make install

Verify Installation:

# This should output:
# nginx-module-vts
/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -V  2>&1 | grep -o nginx-module-vts

Add nginx to PATH. Open your .bashrc and add the following line.

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nginx/sbin

Source the .bashrc file

source .bashrc

RPM: Compatible with Red Hat Package Manager and operating systems like Red Hat, CentOS or Fedora. Use this for AWS instances using Amazon Linux.

First, remove any pre-installed version of Nginx:

sudo yum remove nginx -y

Check if Nginx is removed:

nginx -V
# Expected output: bash: command not found: nginx

Update your system and install necessary build tools:

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum groupinstall "Development Tools" -y
sudo yum install pcre pcre-devel zlib zlib-devel openssl openssl-devel wget -y

Clone the VTS module repository:

git clone https://github.com/vozlt/nginx-module-vts.git

Visit nginx.org/download to find the version of Nginx that matches your needs. For example:

wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
tar -xzvf nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.24.0

Run the configure script with the necessary flags and modules:

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/nginx \
            --add-module=../nginx-module-vts \
            --with-http_ssl_module \
            --with-http_stub_status_module \
            --with-http_v2_module \
            --with-stream

Build and install Nginx:

make
sudo make install

Check if Nginx is installed with the VTS module:

/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -V 2>&1 | grep -o nginx-module-vts
# Expected output: nginx-module-vts

Add nginx to PATH. Open your .bashrc and add the following line.

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nginx/sbin

Source the .bashrc file

source .bashrc

Dockerfile: If you want to run Nginx inside a docker container.

FROM nginx:1.22.1

ENV NGINX_VERSION="1.22.1"
ENV NGINX_VTS_VERSION="0.2.2"

# Install build dependencies and add nginx source repository
RUN apt-get update \
    && apt-get install -y gnupg2 \
    && curl -s http://nginx.org/packages/keys/nginx_signing.key | apt-key add - \
    && echo "deb-src http://nginx.org/packages/debian/ bullseye nginx" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

To enable vts, add this to your NGINX configuration. This is generally at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

location /status {
            vhost_traffic_status_display;
            vhost_traffic_status_display_format html;
            access_log off;
            # Restrict access as needed
            allow 127.0.0.1;
            deny all;
        }

This will expose nginx metrics.

3 Access Integrations

To configure the integration of your Nginx Web Server with our platform.

Enter Server Details:

Endpoint: Provide the endpoint URL of the server status for the http status stub. This is generally <SERVER-URL>:<NGINX-PORT>/nginx_status
VTS Endpoint: Provide the endpoint URL of the server status for the VTS Endpoint . This is generally <SERVER-URL>:<NGINX-PORT>/status/format/json
Collection Interval: Specify the interval at which telemetry data is collected.

Metrics collected

Metrics

Metric	Description	Unit	Type
`nginx.requests`	Total number of requests made to the server since it started	requests	cumulative (int)
`nginx.connections_accepted`	The total number of accepted client connections	connections	cumulative (int)
`nginx.connections_handled`	The total number of handled connections	connections	cumulative (int)
`nginx.connections_current`	The current number of nginx connections by state	connections	cumulative (int)
`nginx.load_timestamp`	Time of the last reload of configuration (time since Epoch)	ms	gauge (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.response_time`	The average time to receive the last byte of data from this server	ms	gauge (int)
`nginx.net.reading`	Current number of connections where NGINX is reading the request header	connections	gauge (int)
`nginx.net.writing`	Current number of connections where NGINX is writing the response back to the client	connections	gauge (int)
`nginx.net.waiting`	Current number of connections where NGINX is waiting for a response	connections	gauge (int)
`nginx.server_zone.responses.1xx`	The number of responses with 1xx status code	responses	gauge (int)
`nginx.server_zone.responses.2xx`	The number of responses with 2xx status code	responses	gauge (int)
`nginx.server_zone.responses.3xx`	The number of responses with 3xx status code	responses	gauge (int)
`nginx.server_zone.responses.4xx`	The number of responses with 4xx status code	responses	gauge (int)
`nginx.server_zone.responses.5xx`	The number of responses with 5xx status code	responses	gauge (int)
`nginx.server_zone.received`	Bytes received by server zones	By	cumulative (int)
`nginx.server_zone.sent`	Bytes sent by server zones	By	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.requests`	Number of requests made to upstream servers	requests	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.received`	Bytes received from upstream servers	By	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.sent`	Bytes sent from upstream servers	By	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.responses.1xx`	Number of responses from upstream with 1xx status codes	responses	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.responses.2xx`	Number of responses from upstream with 2xx status codes	responses	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.responses.3xx`	Number of responses from upstream with 3xx status codes	responses	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.responses.4xx`	Number of responses from upstream with 4xx status codes	responses	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.responses.5xx`	Number of responses from upstream with 5xx status codes	responses	cumulative (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.weight`	Weight of upstream server	weight	gauge (double)
`nginx.upstream.peers.backup`	Whether upstream server is a backup server	{state}	gauge (int)
`nginx.upstream.peers.health_checks.last_passed`	Boolean indicating if the last health check request was successful and passed tests	{status}	gauge (int)