Tech Tip: Simple NGinx configuration for proxying to a 4D Server

PRODUCT: 4D | VERSION: 16 | PLATFORM: Mac & Win

Published On: February 15, 2018

Some deployments have required the use of a Reverse Proxy server in front of the 4D Web Server. Typically people have used Apache or IIS for this, but another alternative that could be used is NGinx (pronounced Engine-X).

NGinx is a simple and lightweight webserver that was developer for serving static pages. It also has a very good proxy engine for proxying requetss to other servers.

Here is a quick and simple configuration that can be used in NGinx to proxy the connection to 4D:

server {
 
       listen 80; # listen on IPv4
       listen [::]:80; # listen on IPv6
 
       server_name example.com www.example.com;
 
       access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
       error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;
 
       root /var/www/html;
 
       index index.html;
 
       # proxy all requests to the 4D Server
       location / {
              proxy_pass https://your4Dserver:8081;
              # this is the address that the 4D Web Server is at
       }
 
       # display a custom error when the 4D Server backend is down
       error_page 502 @offline;
       location @offline {
              root /var/www/html;
              try_files /502.html 502;
              # this is the 502 error page displayed when the 4D server is down
              # create the 502.html page at this location 
              # then customize it look as you like
       }
 
       # entry point for testing the 502 page without bring the 4D Server is down
       location /testing {
              fastcgi_pass unix:/does/not/exist;
              # this allows you to test the 502 page 
              # using https://yourProxyServer/testing
       }
 
}

This configuration is quick and simple to implement. This configuration is also easy to extend with a free certificate from Let's Encrypt, automated with certbot.

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