Set up Nginx as a Reverse Proxy

The first place to learn Nginx can be found in this book:

Install Nginx

The following code can be copied and pasted to perform the task of installing Nginx on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nginx -y

Disable Default Virtual Host of Nginx

Then, try to unlink this existing link:

sudo unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Create the Reverse Proxy

Now go to the Nginx site-available directory

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available

Use a text editor or copy a file with the following file name: reverse-proxy.conf.

For example:

vi reverse-proxy.conf

Use a text editor or copy a file with the following file name: reverse-proxy.conf.

For example, use the text editor vi, you can type the following command:

vi reverse-proxy.conf

In the file, type in the following content. Please note that this configuration, especially the port number 9352 is a PKC specific specification.

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9352;
    }
}

Test Nginx and the Reverse Proxy

Activate the directives by linking to /sites-enabled/ using the following command:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/reverse-proxy.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/reverse-proxy.conf

First, verify the syntax of all the above content is legitimate:

sudo service nginx configtest

Then, restart Nginx to kick it into action:

sudo service nginx restart

Set up Let's Encrypt

After setting up Nginx, one can consider setting up the free-of-charge Let's Encrypt certificate. The following instructions are modeled after this Medium article:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
sudo apt install python-certbot-nginx