nghttpx(1)¶

Connections:¶

-b, --backend=<HOST,PORT>¶

Set backend host and port. For HTTP/1 backend, multiple backend addresses are accepted by repeating this option. HTTP/2 backend does not support multiple backend addresses and the first occurrence of this option is used.

Default: 127.0.0.1,80

-f, --frontend=<HOST,PORT>¶

Set frontend host and port. If <HOST> is '*', it assumes all addresses including both IPv4 and IPv6.

Default: *,3000

--backlog=<N>¶

Set listen backlog size.

Default: 512

--backend-ipv4¶

Resolve backend hostname to IPv4 address only.

--backend-ipv6¶

Resolve backend hostname to IPv6 address only.

--backend-http-proxy-uri=<URI>¶

Specify proxy URI in the form http://[<USER>:<PASS>@]<PROXY>:<PORT>. If a proxy requires authentication, specify <USER> and <PASS>. Note that they must be properly percent-encoded. This proxy is used when the backend connection is HTTP/2. First, make a CONNECT request to the proxy and it connects to the backend on behalf of nghttpx. This forms tunnel. After that, nghttpx performs SSL/TLS handshake with the downstream through the tunnel. The timeouts when connecting and making CONNECT request can be specified by --backend-read-timeout and --backend-write-timeout options.

Performance:¶

-n, --workers=<N>¶

Set the number of worker threads.

Default: 1

--read-rate=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum average read rate on frontend connection. Setting 0 to this option means read rate is unlimited.

Default: 0

--read-burst=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum read burst size on frontend connection. Setting 0 to this option means read burst size is unlimited.

Default: 0

--write-rate=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum average write rate on frontend connection. Setting 0 to this option means write rate is unlimited.

Default: 0

--write-burst=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum write burst size on frontend connection. Setting 0 to this option means write burst size is unlimited.

Default: 0

--worker-read-rate=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum average read rate on frontend connection per worker. Setting 0 to this option means read rate is unlimited. Not implemented yet.

Default: 0

--worker-read-burst=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum read burst size on frontend connection per worker. Setting 0 to this option means read burst size is unlimited. Not implemented yet.

Default: 0

--worker-write-rate=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum average write rate on frontend connection per worker. Setting 0 to this option means write rate is unlimited. Not implemented yet.

Default: 0

--worker-write-burst=<SIZE>¶

Set maximum write burst size on frontend connection per worker. Setting 0 to this option means write burst size is unlimited. Not implemented yet.

Default: 0

--worker-frontend-connections=<N>¶

Set maximum number of simultaneous connections frontend accepts. Setting 0 means unlimited.

Default: 0

--backend-http1-connections-per-host=<N>¶

Set maximum number of backend concurrent HTTP/1 connections per host. This option is meaningful when -s option is used. To limit the number of connections per frontend for default mode, use --backend-http1-connections-per-frontend.

Default: 8

--backend-http1-connections-per-frontend=<N>¶

Set maximum number of backend concurrent HTTP/1 connections per frontend. This option is only used for default mode. 0 means unlimited. To limit the number of connections per host for HTTP/2 or SPDY proxy mode (-s option), use --backend-http1-connections-per-host.

Default: 0

--rlimit-nofile=<N>¶

Set maximum number of open files (RLIMIT_NOFILE) to <N>. If 0 is given, nghttpx does not set the limit.

Default: 0

--backend-request-buffer=<SIZE>¶

Set buffer size used to store backend request.

Default: 16K

--backend-response-buffer=<SIZE>¶

Set buffer size used to store backend response.

Default: 64K

Timeout:¶

--frontend-http2-read-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify read timeout for HTTP/2 and SPDY frontend connection.

Default: 180

--frontend-read-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify read timeout for HTTP/1.1 frontend connection.

Default: 180

--frontend-write-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify write timeout for all frontend connections.

Default: 30

--stream-read-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify read timeout for HTTP/2 and SPDY streams. 0 means no timeout.

Default: 0

--stream-write-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify write timeout for HTTP/2 and SPDY streams. 0 means no timeout.

Default: 0

--backend-read-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify read timeout for backend connection.

Default: 180

--backend-write-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify write timeout for backend connection.

Default: 30

--backend-keep-alive-timeout=<SEC>¶

Specify keep-alive timeout for backend connection.

Default: 600

--listener-disable-timeout=<SEC>¶

After accepting connection failed, connection listener is disabled for a given time in seconds. Specifying 0 disables this feature.

Default: 0

SSL/TLS:¶

--ciphers=<SUITE>¶

Set allowed cipher list. The format of the string is described in OpenSSL ciphers(1).

-k, --insecure¶

Don't verify backend server's certificate if -p, --client or --http2-bridge are given and --backend-no-tls is not given.

--cacert=<PATH>¶

Set path to trusted CA certificate file if -p, --client or --http2-bridge are given and --backend-no-tls is not given. The file must be in PEM format. It can contain multiple certificates. If the linked OpenSSL is configured to load system wide certificates, they are loaded at startup regardless of this option.

--private-key-passwd-file=<PATH>¶

Path to file that contains password for the server's private key. If none is given and the private key is password protected it'll be requested interactively.

--subcert=<KEYPATH>:<CERTPATH>¶

Specify additional certificate and private key file. nghttpx will choose certificates based on the hostname indicated by client using TLS SNI extension. This option can be used multiple times.

--backend-tls-sni-field=<HOST>¶

Explicitly set the content of the TLS SNI extension. This will default to the backend HOST name.

--dh-param-file=<PATH>¶

Path to file that contains DH parameters in PEM format. Without this option, DHE cipher suites are not available.

--npn-list=<LIST>¶

Comma delimited list of ALPN protocol identifier sorted in the order of preference. That means most desirable protocol comes first. This is used in both ALPN and NPN. The parameter must be delimited by a single comma only and any white spaces are treated as a part of protocol string.

Default: h2-16,h2-14,spdy/3.1,http/1.1

--verify-client¶

Require and verify client certificate.

--verify-client-cacert=<PATH>¶

Path to file that contains CA certificates to verify client certificate. The file must be in PEM format. It can contain multiple certificates.

--client-private-key-file=<PATH>¶

Path to file that contains client private key used in backend client authentication.

--client-cert-file=<PATH>¶

Path to file that contains client certificate used in backend client authentication.

--tls-proto-list=<LIST>¶

Comma delimited list of SSL/TLS protocol to be enabled. The following protocols are available: TLSv1.2, TLSv1.1 and TLSv1.0. The name matching is done in case-insensitive manner. The parameter must be delimited by a single comma only and any white spaces are treated as a part of protocol string.

Default: TLSv1.2,TLSv1.1

--tls-ticket-key-file=<PATH>¶

Path to file that contains 48 bytes random data to construct TLS session ticket parameters. This options can be used repeatedly to specify multiple ticket parameters. If several files are given, only the first key is used to encrypt TLS session tickets. Other keys are accepted but server will issue new session ticket with first key. This allows session key rotation. Please note that key rotation does not occur automatically. User should rearrange files or change options values and restart nghttpx gracefully. If opening or reading given file fails, all loaded keys are discarded and it is treated as if none of this option is given. If this option is not given or an error occurred while opening or reading a file, key is generated automatically and renewed every 12hrs. At most 2 keys are stored in memory.

--tls-ctx-per-worker¶

Create OpenSSL's SSL_CTX per worker, so that no internal locking is required. This may improve scalability with multi threaded configuration. If this option is enabled, session ID is no longer shared accross SSL_CTX objects, which means session ID generated by one worker is not acceptable by another worker. On the other hand, session ticket key is shared across all worker threads.

HTTP/2 and SPDY:¶

-c, --http2-max-concurrent-streams=<N>¶

Set the maximum number of the concurrent streams in one HTTP/2 and SPDY session.

Default: 100

--frontend-http2-window-bits=<N>¶

Sets the per-stream initial window size of HTTP/2 SPDY frontend connection. For HTTP/2, the size is 2**<N>-1. For SPDY, the size is 2**<N>.

Default: 16

--frontend-http2-connection-window-bits=<N>¶

Sets the per-connection window size of HTTP/2 and SPDY frontend connection. For HTTP/2, the size is 2**<N>-1. For SPDY, the size is 2**<N>.

Default: 16

--frontend-no-tls¶

Disable SSL/TLS on frontend connections.

--backend-http2-window-bits=<N>¶

Sets the initial window size of HTTP/2 backend connection to 2**<N>-1.

Default: 16

--backend-http2-connection-window-bits=<N>¶

Sets the per-connection window size of HTTP/2 backend connection to 2**<N>-1.

Default: 16

--backend-no-tls¶

Disable SSL/TLS on backend connections.

--http2-no-cookie-crumbling¶

Don't crumble cookie header field.

--padding=<N>¶

Add at most <N> bytes to a HTTP/2 frame payload as padding. Specify 0 to disable padding. This option is meant for debugging purpose and not intended to enhance protocol security.

Mode:¶

(default mode)

Accept HTTP/2, SPDY and HTTP/1.1 over SSL/TLS. If --frontend-no-tls is used, accept HTTP/2 and HTTP/1.1. The incoming HTTP/1.1 connection can be upgraded to HTTP/2 through HTTP Upgrade. The protocol to the backend is HTTP/1.1.

-s, --http2-proxy¶

Like default mode, but enable secure proxy mode.

--http2-bridge¶

Like default mode, but communicate with the backend in HTTP/2 over SSL/TLS. Thus the incoming all connections are converted to HTTP/2 connection and relayed to the backend. See --backend-http-proxy-uri option if you are behind the proxy and want to connect to the outside HTTP/2 proxy.

--client¶

Accept HTTP/2 and HTTP/1.1 without SSL/TLS. The incoming HTTP/1.1 connection can be upgraded to HTTP/2 connection through HTTP Upgrade. The protocol to the backend is HTTP/2. To use nghttpx as a forward proxy, use -p option instead.

-p, --client-proxy¶

Like --client option, but it also requires the request path from frontend must be an absolute URI, suitable for use as a forward proxy.

Logging:¶

-L, --log-level=<LEVEL>¶

Set the severity level of log output. <LEVEL> must be one of INFO, NOTICE, WARN, ERROR and FATAL.

Default: NOTICE

--accesslog-file=<PATH>¶

Set path to write access log. To reopen file, send USR1 signal to nghttpx.

--accesslog-syslog¶

Send access log to syslog. If this option is used, --accesslog-file option is ignored.

--accesslog-format=<FORMAT>¶

Specify format string for access log. The default format is combined format. The following variables are available:

• $remote_addr: client IP address.
• $time_local: local time in Common Log format.
• $time_iso8601: local time in ISO 8601 format.
• $request: HTTP request line.
• $status: HTTP response status code.
• $body_bytes_sent: the number of bytes sent to client as response body.
• $http_<VAR>: value of HTTP request header <VAR> where '_' in <VAR> is replaced with '-'.
• $remote_port: client port.
• $server_port: server port.
• $request_time: request processing time in seconds with milliseconds resolution.
• $pid: PID of the running process.
• $alpn: ALPN identifier of the protocol which generates the response. For HTTP/1, ALPN is always http/1.1, regardless of minor version.

Default: $remote_addr - - [$time_local] "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" "$http_user_agent"

--errorlog-file=<PATH>¶

Set path to write error log. To reopen file, send USR1 signal to nghttpx.

Default: /dev/stderr

--errorlog-syslog¶

Send error log to syslog. If this option is used, --errorlog-file option is ignored.

--syslog-facility=<FACILITY>¶

Set syslog facility to <FACILITY>.

Default: daemon

HTTP:¶

--add-x-forwarded-for¶

Append X-Forwarded-For header field to the downstream request.

--strip-incoming-x-forwarded-for¶

Strip X-Forwarded-For header field from inbound client requests.

--no-via¶

Don't append to Via header field. If Via header field is received, it is left unaltered.

--no-location-rewrite¶

Don't rewrite location header field on --http2-bridge, --client and default mode. For --http2-proxy and --client-proxy mode, location header field will not be altered regardless of this option.

--altsvc=<PROTOID,PORT[,HOST,[ORIGIN]]>¶

Specify protocol ID, port, host and origin of alternative service. <HOST> and <ORIGIN> are optional. They are advertised in alt-svc header field or HTTP/2 ALTSVC frame. This option can be used multiple times to specify multiple alternative services. Example: --altsvc=h2,443

--add-response-header=<HEADER>¶

Specify additional header field to add to response header set. This option just appends header field and won't replace anything already set. This option can be used several times to specify multiple header fields. Example: --add-response-header="foo: bar"

Debug:¶

--frontend-http2-dump-request-header=<PATH>¶

Dumps request headers received by HTTP/2 frontend to the file denoted in <PATH>. The output is done in HTTP/1 header field format and each header block is followed by an empty line. This option is not thread safe and MUST NOT be used with option -n<N>, where <N> >= 2.

--frontend-http2-dump-response-header=<PATH>¶

Dumps response headers sent from HTTP/2 frontend to the file denoted in <PATH>. The output is done in HTTP/1 header field format and each header block is followed by an empty line. This option is not thread safe and MUST NOT be used with option -n<N>, where <N> >= 2.

-o, --frontend-frame-debug¶

Print HTTP/2 frames in frontend to stderr. This option is not thread safe and MUST NOT be used with option -n=N, where N >= 2.

Process:¶

-D, --daemon¶

Run in a background. If -D is used, the current working directory is changed to '/'.

--pid-file=<PATH>¶

Set path to save PID of this program.

--user=<USER>¶

Run this program as <USER>. This option is intended to be used to drop root privileges.

Misc:¶

--conf=<PATH>¶

Load configuration from <PATH>.

Default: /etc/nghttpx/nghttpx.conf

-v, --version¶

Print version and exit.

-h, --help¶

Print this help and exit.

The <SIZE> argument is an integer and an optional unit (e.g., 10K is 10 * 1024). Units are K, M and G (powers of 1024).