Nginx configuration

[igorbenav]

Running with NGINX is now possible.

Running with NGINX

NGINX is a high-performance web server, known for its stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption. NGINX acts as a reverse proxy, that is, it receives client requests, forwards them to the FastAPI server (running via Uvicorn or Gunicorn), and then passes the responses back to the clients.

To run with NGINX, you start by uncommenting the following part in your docker-compose.yml:

# docker-compose.yml

...
  # #-------- uncomment to run with nginx --------
  # nginx:
  #   image: nginx:latest
  #   ports:
  #     - "80:80"
  #   volumes:
  #     - ./default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
  #   depends_on:
  #     - web
...

Which should be changed to:

# docker-compose.yml

...
  #-------- uncomment to run with nginx --------
  nginx:
    image: nginx:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
    depends_on:
      - web
...

Then comment the following part:

# docker-compose.yml

services:
  web:
    ...
    # -------- Both of the following should be commented to run with nginx --------
    command: uvicorn app.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload
    # command: gunicorn app.main:app -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker -b 0.0.0.0:8000

Which becomes:

# docker-compose.yml

services:
  web:
    ...
    # -------- Both of the following should be commented to run with nginx --------
    # command: uvicorn app.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload
    # command: gunicorn app.main:app -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker -b 0.0.0.0:8000

Then pick the way you want to run (uvicorn or gunicorn managing uvicorn workers) in Dockerfile.
The one you want should be uncommented, comment the other one.

# Dockerfile

CMD ["uvicorn", "app.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000", "--reload"]
# CMD ["gunicorn", "app.main:app", "-w", "4", "-k", "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker". "-b", "0.0.0.0:8000"]

1. One Server

If you want to run with one server only, your setup should be ready. Just make sure the only part that is not a comment in deafult.conf is:

# default.conf

# ---------------- Running With One Server ----------------
server {
    listen 80;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://web:8000;
        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_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

2. Multiple Servers

NGINX can distribute incoming network traffic across multiple servers, improving the efficiency and capacity utilization of your application.

To run with multiple servers, just comment the Running With One Server part in default.conf and Uncomment the other one:

# default.conf

# ---------------- Running With One Server ----------------
...

# ---------------- To Run with Multiple Servers, Uncomment below ----------------
upstream fastapi_app {
    server fastapi1:8000;  # Replace with actual server names or IP addresses
    server fastapi2:8000;
    # Add more servers as needed
}

server {
    listen 80;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://fastapi_app; 
        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_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Warning

Note that we are using fastapi1:8000 and fastapi2:8000 as examples, you should replace it with the actual name of your service and the port it's running on.