Series · 5 parts

Nginx from Zero to Production

Master Nginx hands-on: install locally, understand the config model, build a reverse proxy and load balancer, add TLS, caching and rate limiting, then ship and debug a production setup.

01 Nginx from Zero to Production · Part 1 — Fundamentals & Local Install

Start Nginx from zero: what it really is (web server, reverse proxy, load balancer), the master/worker event-driven model, install it locally on macOS/Linux/Docker, and serve your first static site — with exercises.
02 Nginx from Zero to Production · Part 2 — The Configuration Model

The grammar behind every Nginx config: directives and contexts (main/events/http/server/location), how location matching really works, try_files, virtual hosts with server_name, and the safe reload workflow — with exercises.
03 Nginx from Zero to Production · Part 3 — Reverse Proxy & Load Balancing

Put Nginx in front of a real app: proxy_pass, the headers you must forward, upstream pools, load-balancing algorithms, health checks and failover, and WebSocket proxying — with a runnable Node demo and exercises.
04 Nginx from Zero to Production · Part 4 — TLS, Security & Performance

Production-grade Nginx: HTTPS with a local self-signed cert (and Let's Encrypt), HTTP/2, gzip/brotli, response caching with proxy_cache, rate limiting, and the security headers every site needs — with exercises.
05 Nginx from Zero to Production · Part 5 — Production Config & Debugging

Tie it together: a complete real-world config (SPA + API proxy + cache + TLS), reusable includes, Docker & Compose deploy, worker tuning, a debugging cheat-sheet for the errors you will actually hit, and a capstone project.