5 ms·

I always throw Nginx in front of Node so I can route statics to the filesystem (Don't serve js or CSS through NodeJS), plus it means I can run new NodeJS servic

I always throw Nginx in front of Node so I can route statics to the filesystem (Don't serve js or CSS through NodeJS), plus it means I can run new NodeJS services and adjust the routing in Nginx to point to them. Also Fail2Ban reads Nginx logs

a_imho 7y ago
I read architecture B as a single server scenario, the question was why use Node in that case instead of handling everything in nginx (if you are set on using nginx anyway) for a minimal setup. Of course the same can apply the other way around, but I gather Node is just not good at some of the things nginx is.
- fpereiro 7y ago
  I don't think it is at all possible to use nginx to write application logic otherwise than serving static files and perhaps doing some URL transformations. node gives you a full programming language that's necessary for implementing an API.
  - a_imho 7y ago
    It is absolutely possible, that is what the OpenResty stands for.
    - fpereiro 7y ago
      I stand corrected, you're right! I hadn't heard about OpenResty. It's amazing that this exists, I would have never thought it possible (because of what I saw as inherent limits in what can be expressed in terms of nginx configuration), but now that I see it, of course it is :). From what I gather, custom code can be written as Lua scripts, and many of the modules are written in Lua themselves. Thank you for sharing this!
      - a_imho 7y ago
        As far as I remember Lua scripting is brought by the lua-ngx module, but it is also possible to use JS or the JVM (ngx-clojure) for location handler, or even write your own nginx module in C, nevertheless Lua is the first class citizen. I personally don't mind it, but obviously the ecosystem and the market for Lua is much smaller than JS. In fact, I'm only aware of itch.io that runs on OpenResty.
        fpereiro 7y ago
        It looks like Lua is the main scripting language; which is a fine choice by me; the few times I worked on redis transaction scripting in Lua (since Lua is the language for doing that) the experience was very pleasant. Are you building a project (or projects) on OpenResty?
- jinglebells 7y ago
  I think the pattern is Public Web -> Reverse Proxy -> Application Server Rather than Public Web -> Nginx -> Node (In his example) You could reasonably do Public Web -> Node reverse proxy -> Node Application Server It doesn't really matter if the reverse proxy is Nginx or Node or something else, it's a good pattern to insert a lightweight service at the front which can redirect the requests upstream. If you need to scale by adding new boxes or services, this can now be your load balancer. Your reverse proxy can also handle blocking dodgy requests (Fail2Ban) or act as a lightweight static file handler, leaving your application server to do the grunt work.

a_imho 7y ago

I read architecture B as a single server scenario, the question was why use Node in that case instead of handling everything in nginx (if you are set on using nginx anyway) for a minimal setup. Of course the same can apply the other way around, but I gather Node is just not good at some of the things nginx is.

fpereiro 7y ago
I don't think it is at all possible to use nginx to write application logic otherwise than serving static files and perhaps doing some URL transformations. node gives you a full programming language that's necessary for implementing an API.
- a_imho 7y ago
  It is absolutely possible, that is what the OpenResty stands for.
  - fpereiro 7y ago
    I stand corrected, you're right! I hadn't heard about OpenResty. It's amazing that this exists, I would have never thought it possible (because of what I saw as inherent limits in what can be expressed in terms of nginx configuration), but now that I see it, of course it is :). From what I gather, custom code can be written as Lua scripts, and many of the modules are written in Lua themselves. Thank you for sharing this!
    - a_imho 7y ago
      As far as I remember Lua scripting is brought by the lua-ngx module, but it is also possible to use JS or the JVM (ngx-clojure) for location handler, or even write your own nginx module in C, nevertheless Lua is the first class citizen. I personally don't mind it, but obviously the ecosystem and the market for Lua is much smaller than JS. In fact, I'm only aware of itch.io that runs on OpenResty.
      - fpereiro 7y ago
        It looks like Lua is the main scripting language; which is a fine choice by me; the few times I worked on redis transaction scripting in Lua (since Lua is the language for doing that) the experience was very pleasant. Are you building a project (or projects) on OpenResty?
jinglebells 7y ago
I think the pattern is Public Web -> Reverse Proxy -> Application Server Rather than Public Web -> Nginx -> Node (In his example) You could reasonably do Public Web -> Node reverse proxy -> Node Application Server It doesn't really matter if the reverse proxy is Nginx or Node or something else, it's a good pattern to insert a lightweight service at the front which can redirect the requests upstream. If you need to scale by adding new boxes or services, this can now be your load balancer. Your reverse proxy can also handle blocking dodgy requests (Fail2Ban) or act as a lightweight static file handler, leaving your application server to do the grunt work.