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While the LAMP stack (Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP) is very popular for powering WordPress, it is also possible to use Nginx. WordPress supports Nginx, and some large WordPress sites, such as WordPress.com, are powered by Nginx.
NGINX, Inc. is the company behind the popular open source project trusted by more than 400 million sites. Offering a suite of technologies for developing and delivering modern applications, the NGINX Application Platform enables enterprises undergoing digital transformation to modernize legacy, monolithic applications as well as deliver new, microservices-based applications. Companies like Netflix, Starbucks, and McDonalds rely on NGINX to reduce costs, improve resiliency, and speed innovation. NGINX investors include Blue Cloud Ventures, e.ventures, Goldman Sachs, Index Ventures, MSD Capital, NEA, Runa Capital, and Telstra Ventures.
When talking about Nginx, it is important to know that there are multiple ways to implement Nginx. It can be setup as a reverse-proxy in front of Apache, which is a very powerful setup that allows you to use all of the features and power of Apache, while benefitting from the speed of Nginx. Most websites that report using Nginx as the server (based on stats gathered from HTTP response headers), are actually Apache running with Nginx as the reverse proxy. (The HTTP response headers showing "Nginx" are being reported by the reverse-proxy, not the server itself.)
This guide is referring to a standalone Nginx setup, where it is used as the primary server instead of Apache. It should be noted that Nginx is not a completely interchangeable substitute for Apache. There are a few key differences affecting WordPress implementation that you need to be aware of before you proceed:
This guide is not going to cover how to install and configure Nginx, so this assumes that you have already installed Nginx and have a basic understanding of how to work with and debug it.
To make WordPress work with Nginx you have to configure the backend php-cgi. The options available are 'fastcgi' or 'php-fpm'. Here, php-fpm is being used because it is included with PHP 5.3+, so installing it is straight forward.
The Nginx configuration has been broken up into five distinct files and is heavily commented to make each option easier to understand. The author also made a best-effort attempting to follow "best practices" for nginx configurations.
This is equivalent to /etc/nginx/nginx.conf (or /etc/nginx/conf/nginx.conf if you're using Arch Linux).
# Generic startup file.
user {user} {group};
#usually equal to number of CPUs you have. run command "grep processor /proc/cpuinfo | wc -l" to find it
worker_processes auto;
worker_cpu_affinity auto;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid /var/run/nginx.pid;
# Keeps the logs free of messages about not being able to bind().
#daemon off;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
# rewrite_log on;
include mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
sendfile on;
# tcp_nopush on;
keepalive_timeout 3;
# tcp_nodelay on;
# gzip on;
#php max upload limit cannot be larger than this
client_max_body_size 13m;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
# Upstream to abstract backend connection(s) for PHP.
upstream php {
#this should match value of "listen" directive in php-fpm pool
server unix:/tmp/php-fpm.sock;
# server 127.0.0.1:9000;
}
include sites-enabled/*;
}
This is a bit different from standard nginx.conf files. This configuration follows the Ubuntu/Debian method of declaring enabled sites for maximum flexibility - using 'sites-available' to store a config and then symlink to the config file from 'sites-enabled'.
# Redirect everything to the main site. We use a separate server statement and NOT an if statement - see http://wiki.nginx.org/IfIsEvil
server {
server_name _;
return 302 $scheme://example.com$request_uri;
}
server {
server_name example.com;
root /var/www/example.com;
index index.php;
include global/restrictions.conf;
# Additional rules go here.
# Only include one of the files below.
include global/wordpress.conf;
# include global/wordpress-ms-subdir.conf;
# include global/wordpress-ms-subdomain.conf;
}
Splitting sections of the configuration into multiple files allows the same logic to be reused over and over. A 'global' subdirectory is used to add extra rules for general purpose use (either /etc/nginx/conf/global/ or /etc/nginx/global/ depending on how your nginx install is set up).
# Global restrictions configuration file.
# Designed to be included in any server {} block.
location = /favicon.ico {
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
}
# robots.txt fallback to index.php
location = /robots.txt {
# Some WordPress plugin gererate robots.txt file
allow all;
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args @robots;
access_log off;
log_not_found off;
}
# additional fallback if robots.txt doesn't exist
location @robots {
return 200 "User-agent: *\nDisallow: /wp-admin/\nAllow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php\n";
}
# Deny all attempts to access hidden files such as .htaccess, .htpasswd, .DS_Store (Mac) excepted .well-known directory.
# Keep logging the requests to parse later (or to pass to firewall utilities such as fail2ban)
location ~ /\.(?!well-known\/) {
deny all;
}
# Deny access to any files with a .php extension in the uploads directory for the single site
location /wp-content/uploads {
location ~ \.php$ {
deny all;
}
}
# Deny access to any files with a .php extension in the uploads directory
# Works in sub-directory installs and also in multisite network
# Keep logging the requests to parse later (or to pass to firewall utilities such as fail2ban)
location ~* /(?:uploads|files)/.*\.php$ {
deny all;
}
For single site installations, here is the 'global/wordpress.conf' file:
# WordPress single site rules.
# Designed to be included in any server {} block.
# Upstream to abstract backend connection(s) for php
upstream php {
server unix:/tmp/php-cgi.socket;
server 127.0.0.1:9000;
}
server {
## Your website name goes here.
server_name domain.tld;
## Your only path reference.
root /var/www/wordpress;
## This should be in your http block and if it is, it's not needed here.
index index.php;
location = /favicon.ico {
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
expires max;
}
location = /robots.txt {
allow all;
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
}
location / {
# This is cool because no php is touched for static content.
# include the "$is_args$args" so non-default permalinks doesn't break when using query string
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
#NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
include fastcgi.conf;
fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
fastcgi_pass php;
fastcgi_buffers 16 16k;
fastcgi_buffer_size 32k;
}
location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico)$ {
expires max;
access_log off;
log_not_found off;
}
}
This is more uptodate example for nginx v .10 and ↑. Ref: https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/recipes/wordpress/
WordPress 5.x Query parameters support with Nginx. Ref:
https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/using-the-rest-api/frequently-asked-questions/
For multisite subdirectory installations, here is the 'global/wordpress.conf' file:
# WordPress multisite subdirectory rules.
# Designed to be included in any server {} block.
map $uri $blogname{
~^(?P<blogpath>/[^/]+/)files/(.*) $blogpath ;
}
map $blogname $blogid{
default -999;
#Ref: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nginx-helper/
#include /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/nginx-helper/map.conf ;
}
server {
server_name example.com ;
root /var/www/example.com/htdocs;
index index.php;
location ~ ^(/[^/]+/)?files/(.+) {
try_files /wp-content/blogs.dir/$blogid/files/$2 /wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 ;
access_log off; log_not_found off; expires max;
}
#avoid php readfile()
location ^~ /blogs.dir {
internal;
alias /var/www/example.com/htdocs/wp-content/blogs.dir ;
access_log off; log_not_found off; expires max;
}
if (!-e $request_filename) {
# Don't use `$uri` here, see https://github.com/yandex/gixy/issues/77
rewrite /wp-admin$ $scheme://$host$request_uri/ permanent;
rewrite ^(/[^/]+)?(/wp-.*) $2 last;
rewrite ^(/[^/]+)?(/.*\.php) $2 last;
}
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args ;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass php;
}
#add some rules for static content expiry-headers here
}
NGINX provides 2 special directive: X-Accel-Redirect <x-accel.redirect_> and map. Using these 2 directives, one can eliminate performance hit for static-file serving on WordPress multisite network.
Note: WordPress Network installs no longer need the `blogs.dir` rules when creating a network, however may still be needed when migrating older installations.
map $http_host $blogid {
default -999;
#Ref: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nginx-helper/
#include /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/nginx-helper/map.conf ;
}
server {
server_name example.com *.example.com ;
root /var/www/example.com/htdocs;
index index.php;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args ;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass php;
}
#WPMU Files
location ~ ^/files/(.*)$ {
try_files /wp-content/blogs.dir/$blogid/$uri /wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1 ;
access_log off; log_not_found off; expires max;
}
#WPMU x-sendfile to avoid php readfile()
location ^~ /blogs.dir {
internal;
alias /var/www/example.com/htdocs/wp-content/blogs.dir;
access_log off; log_not_found off; expires max;
}
#add some rules for static content expiry-headers here
}
Ref: https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/recipes/wordpress/
Note: WordPress Network installs no longer need the `blogs.dir` rules when creating a network, however may still be needed when migrating older installations.
Enabling HTTPS in Nginx is relatively simple.
server {
# listens both on IPv4 and IPv6 on 443 and enables HTTPS and HTTP/2 support.
# HTTP/2 is available in nginx 1.9.5 and above.
listen *:443 ssl http2;
listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
# indicate locations of SSL key files.
ssl_certificate /srv/www/ssl/ssl.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /srv/www/ssl/ssl.key;
ssl_dhparam /srv/www/master/ssl/dhparam.pem;
# indicate the server name
server_name example.com *.example.com;
# Enable HSTS. This forces SSL on clients that respect it, most modern browsers. The includeSubDomains flag is optional.
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains";
# Set caches, protocols, and accepted ciphers. This config will merit an A+ SSL Labs score as of Sept 2015.
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:20m;
ssl_session_timeout 10m;
ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES128-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA:AES256-SHA:DES-CBC3-SHA:CAMELLIA256-SHA:CAMELLIA128-SHA256;
}
Mozilla offers an excellent SSL config generation tool as well.
# WP Super Cache rules.
# Designed to be included from a 'wordpress-ms-...' configuration file.
set $cache_uri $request_uri;
# POST requests and urls with a query string should always go to PHP
if ($request_method = POST) {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
if ($query_string != "") {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
# Don't cache uris containing the following segments
if ($request_uri ~* "(/wp-admin/|/xmlrpc.php|/wp-(app|cron|login|register|mail).php|wp-.*.php|/feed/|index.php|wp-comments-popup.php|wp-links-opml.php|wp-locations.php|sitemap(_index)?.xml|[a-z0-9_-]+-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml)") {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
# Don't use the cache for logged in users or recent commenters
if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author|wordpress_[a-f0-9]+|wp-postpass|wordpress_logged_in") {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
# START MOBILE
# Mobile browsers section to server them non-cached version. COMMENTED by default as most modern wordpress themes including twenty-eleven are responsive. Uncomment config lines in this section if you want to use a plugin like WP-Touch
# if ($http_x_wap_profile) {
# set $cache_uri 'null cache';
#}
#if ($http_profile) {
# set $cache_uri 'null cache';
#}
#if ($http_user_agent ~* (2.0\ MMP|240x320|400X240|AvantGo|BlackBerry|Blazer|Cellphone|Danger|DoCoMo|Elaine/3.0|EudoraWeb|Googlebot-Mobile|hiptop|IEMobile|KYOCERA/WX310K|LG/U990|MIDP-2.|MMEF20|MOT-V|NetFront|Newt|Nintendo\ Wii|Nitro|Nokia|Opera\ Mini|Palm|PlayStation\ Portable|portalmmm|Proxinet|ProxiNet|SHARP-TQ-GX10|SHG-i900|Small|SonyEricsson|Symbian\ OS|SymbianOS|TS21i-10|UP.Browser|UP.Link|webOS|Windows\ CE|WinWAP|YahooSeeker/M1A1-R2D2|iPhone|iPod|Android|BlackBerry9530|LG-TU915\ Obigo|LGE\ VX|webOS|Nokia5800)) {
# set $cache_uri 'null cache';
#}
#if ($http_user_agent ~* (w3c\ |w3c-|acs-|alav|alca|amoi|audi|avan|benq|bird|blac|blaz|brew|cell|cldc|cmd-|dang|doco|eric|hipt|htc_|inno|ipaq|ipod|jigs|kddi|keji|leno|lg-c|lg-d|lg-g|lge-|lg/u|maui|maxo|midp|mits|mmef|mobi|mot-|moto|mwbp|nec-|newt|noki|palm|pana|pant|phil|play|port|prox|qwap|sage|sams|sany|sch-|sec-|send|seri|sgh-|shar|sie-|siem|smal|smar|sony|sph-|symb|t-mo|teli|tim-|tosh|tsm-|upg1|upsi|vk-v|voda|wap-|wapa|wapi|wapp|wapr|webc|winw|winw|xda\ |xda-)) {
# set $cache_uri 'null cache';
#}
#END MOBILE
# Use cached or actual file if they exists, otherwise pass request to WordPress
location / {
try_files /wp-content/cache/supercache/$http_host/$cache_uri/index.html $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args ;
}
Experimental modifications:
If you are using HTTPS, the latest development version of WP Super Cache may use a different directory structure to differentiate between HTTP and HTTPS. try_files line may look like below:
location / {
try_files /wp-content/cache/supercache/$http_host/$cache_uri/index-https.html $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args ;
}
W3 Total Cache uses different directory structure for disk-based cache storage depending on WordPress configuration.
Cache validation checks will remain common as shown below:
#W3 TOTAL CACHE CHECK
set $cache_uri $request_uri;
# POST requests and urls with a query string should always go to PHP
if ($request_method = POST) {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
if ($query_string != "") {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
# Don't cache uris containing the following segments
if ($request_uri ~* "(/wp-admin/|/xmlrpc.php|/wp-(app|cron|login|register|mail).php|wp-.*.php|/feed/|index.php|wp-comments-popup.php|wp-links-opml.php|wp-locations.php|sitemap(_index)?.xml|[a-z0-9_-]+-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml)") {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
# Don't use the cache for logged in users or recent commenters
if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author|wordpress_[a-f0-9]+|wp-postpass|wordpress_logged_in") {
set $cache_uri 'null cache';
}
#ADD mobile rules from WP SUPER CACHE section above
#APPEND A CODE BLOCK FROM BELOW...
FOR Normal WordPress (without Multisite) Use following:
# Use cached or actual file if they exists, otherwise pass request to WordPress
location / {
try_files /wp-content/w3tc/pgcache/$cache_uri/_index.html $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args ;
}
FOR Multisite with subdirectories Use following:
if ($request_uri ~* "^/([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+)/.*" ){
set $blog $1;
}
set $blog "${blog}.";
if ( $blog = "blog." ){
set $blog "";
}
# Use cached or actual file if they exists, otherwise pass request to WordPress
location / {
try_files /wp-content/w3tc-$blog$host/pgcache$cache_uri/_index.html $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args ;
}
FOR Multisite with Subdomains/Domain-mapping Use following:
location / {
try_files /wp-content/w3tc-$host/pgcache/$cache_uri/_index.html $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}
Notes
Nginx can perform caching on its own end to reduce load on your server. When you want to use Nginx's built-in fastcgi_cache, you better compile nginx with fastcgi_cache_purge module. It will help nginx purge cache for a page when it gets edited. On the WordPress side, you need to install a plugin like Nginx Helper to utilize fastcgi_cache_purge feature.
For Ubuntu users, you can use launchpad repo by Brian Mercer to install/upgrade nginx with fastcgi_cache_purge support.
Config will look like below:
Define a Nginx cache zone in http{...} block, outside server{...} block
#move next 3 lines to /etc/nginx/nginx.conf if you want to use fastcgi_cache across many sites fastcgi_cache_path /var/run/nginx-cache levels=1:2 keys_zone=WORDPRESS:500m inactive=60m; fastcgi_cache_key "$scheme$request_method$host$request_uri"; fastcgi_cache_use_stale error timeout invalid_header http_500;
For wordpress site config, in server{..} block add a cache check block as follow
#fastcgi_cache start
set $no_cache 0;
# POST requests and urls with a query string should always go to PHP
if ($request_method = POST) {
set $no_cache 1;
}
if ($query_string != "") {
set $no_cache 1;
}
# Don't cache uris containing the following segments
if ($request_uri ~* "(/wp-admin/|/xmlrpc.php|/wp-(app|cron|login|register|mail).php|wp-.*.php|/feed/|index.php|wp-comments-popup.php|wp-links-opml.php|wp-locations.php|sitemap(_index)?.xml|[a-z0-9_-]+-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml)") {
set $no_cache 1;
}
# Don't use the cache for logged in users or recent commenters
if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author|wordpress_[a-f0-9]+|wp-postpass|wordpress_no_cache|wordpress_logged_in") {
set $no_cache 1;
}
Then make changes to PHP handling block
Just add this to the following php block. Note the line fastcgi_cache_valid 200 60m; which tells nginx only to cache 200 responses(normal pages), which means that redirects are not cached. This is important for multilanguage sites where, if not implemented, nginx would cache the main url in one language instead of redirecting users to their respective content according to their language.
fastcgi_cache_bypass $no_cache;
fastcgi_no_cache $no_cache;
fastcgi_cache WORDPRESS;
fastcgi_cache_valid 200 60m;
Such that it becomes something like this
location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
if (!-f $document_root$fastcgi_script_name) {
return 404;
}
# This is a robust solution for path info security issue and works with "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1" in /etc/php.ini (default)
include fastcgi.conf;
fastcgi_index index.php;
# fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
fastcgi_pass php;
fastcgi_cache_bypass $no_cache;
fastcgi_no_cache $no_cache;
fastcgi_cache WORDPRESS;
fastcgi_cache_valid 200 60m;
}
Finally add a location for conditional purge
location ~ /purge(/.*) {
# Uncomment the following two lines to allow purge only from the webserver
#allow 127.0.0.1;
#deny all;
fastcgi_cache_purge WORDPRESS "$scheme$request_method$host$1";
}
If you get an 'unknown directive "fastcgi_cache_purge"' error check that your nginx installation has fastcgi_cache_purge module.
By default, on a Multisite setup, a static file request brings php into picture i.e. ms-files.php file. You can get much better performance using Nginx Map{..} directive.
In nginx config for your site, above server{..} block, add a section as follows:
map $http_host $blogid {
default 0;
example.com 1;
site1.example.com 2;
site1.com 2;
}
It is just a list of site-names and blog-ids. You can use Nginx helper to get such a list of site-name/blog-id pairs. This plugin will also generate a map.conf file which you can directly include in the map{} section like this:
map $http_host $blogid {
default 0;
include /path/to/map.conf ;
}
After creating a map{..} section, you just need to make one more change in your Nginx config so requests for /files/ will be first processed using nginx map{..}:
location ~ ^/files/(.*)$ {
try_files /wp-content/blogs.dir/$blogid/$uri /wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1 ;
access_log off; log_not_found off; expires max;
}
A couple of final but important notes: This whole setup assumes that the root of the site is the blog and that all files that will be referenced reside on the host. If you put the blog in a subdirectory such as /blog, then the rules will have to be modified. Perhaps someone can take these rules and make it possible to, for instance, use a:
set $wp_subdir "/blog";
directive in the main 'server' block and have it automagically apply to the generic WP rules.