Setting up Nginx as a reverse proxy for Apache on Debian 11 can provide several benefits, such as improved performance and the ability to use Nginx’s advanced features to enhance your website. In this article, we will go over the steps required to set up Nginx as a reverse proxy for Apache on Debian 11.

First, let’s go over the prerequisites for this setup. You will need a server running Debian 11, access to the root user account, and Apache and Nginx installed on the server.

Once you have these prerequisites in place, you can begin the setup process.

• Log in to your server as the root user and update the package manager index:

apt update

• Install the proxy and proxy_http Nginx modules by running the following command:

apt install nginx-extras

• Next, we need to configure Nginx to act as a reverse proxy for Apache. Open the Nginx configuration file in a text editor:

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

• In the http block, add the following configuration to set up Nginx as a reverse proxy:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass <http://127.0.0.1:8080>;
        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;
    }
}

Replace example.com with your own domain name. This configuration tells Nginx to listen on port 80 and forward requests to Apache, which is listening on port 8080.

• Save and close the file, then restart Nginx to apply the changes:

systemctl restart nginx

• Next, we need to configure Apache to accept requests from Nginx. Open the Apache configuration file in a text editor:

nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

• Find the Listen directive and change it to the following, replacing 8080 with the port that Apache should listen on (this should be the same port that you specified in the Nginx configuration):

Listen 8080

• Save and close the file, then restart Apache to apply the changes:

systemctl restart apache2

With these changes in place, Nginx will act as a reverse proxy for Apache, forwarding requests to Apache and serving the response back to the client. This allows you to take advantage of Nginx’s advanced features and performance improvements, while still using Apache to serve your website content.

• Now, open a web browser and navigate to your domain name (e.g., http://example.com). You should see the content served by Apache, but through Nginx.

And that’s it! You have successfully set up Nginx as a reverse proxy for Apache on Debian 11. With this setup, you can take advantage of Nginx’s advanced features and performance improvements to enhance your website.