Environment Setup and Nginx Compilation

Begin by installing the necessary compiler and development libraries required for Nginx to function properly, including support for SSL and regular expressions.

yum install -y gcc-c++ pcre pcre-devel zlib zlib-devel openssl openssl-devel

Extract the source archive and navigate into the directory. Execute the configuration script to enable specific modules such as the status monitor and SSL support.

tar -zxvf nginx-1.18.0.tar.gz -C /usr/local/src/
cd /usr/local/src/nginx-1.18.0
./configure --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module
make && make install

Configuring Nginx as a System Service

To ensure the web server starts automatically on boot, create a systemd service unit file instead of modifying rc.local.

cat > /usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=The Nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server
After=network.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target

[Service]
Type=forking
PIDFile=/usr/local/nginx/logs/nginx.pid
ExecStartPre=/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -t
ExecStart=/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s QUIT $MAINPID
PrivateTmp=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable nginx
systemctl start nginx

Configuring Backend Load Balancing

For the backend services, prepare multiple application instances. Define an upstream block in the Nginx configuration to distribute traffic among these servers.

upstream java_backend_cluster {
    server 127.0.0.1:8080 weight=2;
    server 127.0.0.1:8081 weight=1;
}

Ensure the firewall allows traffic to the application ports.

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port={80/tcp,8080/tcp,8081/tcp}
firewall-cmd --reload

Deploying the Frontend and Configuring Reverse Proxy

Copy the built static assets (e.g., from a Vue.js or React build) to the designated web root. Configure the server block to serve the frontend and proxy API requests to the backend cluster.

worker_processes  auto;

events {
    worker_connections  2048;
}

http {
    include       mime.types;
    default_type  application/octet-stream;
    sendfile        on;
    keepalive_timeout  65;

    upstream java_backend_cluster {
        server 127.0.0.1:8080;
        server 127.0.0.1:8081;
    }

    server {
        listen       80;
        server_name  app.example.com;
        root   /var/www/html/dist;

        location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
        }

        location /service/ {
            proxy_pass http://java_backend_cluster/;
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        }

        error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
        location = /50x.html {
            root   html;
        }
    }
}

After saving the configuration, verify the syntax and reload the service to apply changes.

/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx