A Complete Guide to Nginx: Meaning, Working, Installation & Use Cases

In today’s digital world, one thing every online business needs is a reliable web server. But why is this so important? Because your web server is the backbone of your website—responsible for loading your pages quickly and keeping everything running smoothly even during heavy traffic.

Among the many web server options available, Nginx stands out for its exceptional speed, performance, and efficiency. If you’re wondering “What exactly is the Nginx web server?”—you’re in the right place.

This guide explains everything you need to know about Nginx—from its core features and architecture to installation steps and real-world use cases. Despite being lightweight, Nginx isn’t just a standard web server. It also works as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and mail proxy server.

Its unique design allows it to handle massive traffic volumes without slowing down or crashing. Although its setup may appear complex at first glance, it becomes simple once you understand its components.

Let’s dive in and unlock the power of Nginx.

What Is a Web Server?

Before we explore Nginx, let’s quickly understand the purpose of a web server.

A web server is a machine that delivers web pages to users when they request them through a URL. Every server has its own IP address and domain name.

In simple words, a web server is the system that receives your request and sends back the web page you want to view.

What is Nginx?
How to Install Nginx
Nginx Use Cases
Getting Started with Nginx
Conclusion
FAQs

What Is Nginx?

Nginx is a free, open-source web server known for high performance, stability, and extremely low resource usage. It efficiently serves static content and supports various operating systems, which makes it a top choice for modern websites and applications.

There are two main versions of Nginx:

1. NGINX Open Source

A community-driven version that handles network traffic with maximum efficiency. Ideal for most web applications.

2. NGINX Plus

A commercial version offering advanced features like session persistence, active health checks, and enhanced load balancing.

Both versions maintain the platform’s powerful, reliable design that optimizes website performance and security.

Additional capabilities include:

Working as an HTTP server
Acting as an email proxy for IMAP, POP3, and SMTP
Handling thousands of requests at once due to its event-driven architecture
Zero downtime during upgrades

How Does the Nginx Web Server Work?

Nginx Architecture

Nginx follows an event-driven, asynchronous architecture, making it highly scalable. It operates using one master process and multiple worker processes.

Master process:
Reads configuration files and manages worker processes.
Worker processes:
Handle incoming requests and perform the actual work.

Unlike traditional servers (which spawn a new process for each request), Nginx worker processes can handle thousands of connections concurrently. This dramatically reduces server load and improves performance.

Reverse Proxy & API Gateway

Nginx also acts as a reverse proxy—sitting between client requests and backend servers. It receives the request, routes it to the correct server, and returns the response back to the user.

This process:

Enhances security
Reduces server overload
Improves request handling
Enables SSL termination, caching, and load balancing

Caching

Caching stores a copy of frequently accessed content so that Nginx can return it instantly without fetching it again from the server.

Load Balancing

Load balancing distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers, improving uptime and performance.

Key Nginx Configuration Settings

The primary configuration file is nginx.conf, which includes several important directives:

worker_processes

Defines how many worker processes run under the master.
Example: 6-core CPU → 6 worker processes.

worker_connections

Specifies how many simultaneous connections each worker can handle.

access_log & error_log

Tracks user activity and captures issues or errors.

gzip

Compresses response files for faster delivery. Best used for larger files due to CPU usage.

How to Install Nginx

Installing Nginx on Linux (Ubuntu)

Open Terminal
Update your system:
sudo apt-get update
Install Nginx:
sudo apt-get install nginx
Enable firewall:
sudo ufw enable
Verify Nginx installation:
nginx -v
Add firewall rules:
sudo ufw app list

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTPS'

Check firewall status:
sudo ufw status

2. Confirm Nginx is running:
sudo systemctl status nginx

Installing Nginx on Windows (7/8/10/11)

Visit the official download page: nginx.org
Download the mainline version
Unzip the folder
Run the Nginx application
Allow firewall permissions
Visit http://localhost/ — you should see “Welcome to Nginx”

Nginx Use Cases

1. Static Content Delivery

Nginx is extremely efficient at serving static files such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images—even during periods of heavy load.

2. Load Balancing

Distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers, preventing downtime and improving speed.

3. Reverse Proxy

Acts as a gateway between clients and backend servers, enhancing security and performance—especially useful for microservices.

Getting Started with Nginx

Nginx runs exceptionally well on Linux-based hosting environments.
Cantech offers optimized Linux hosting, VPS, cloud servers, and dedicated servers—allowing you to customize your configuration for Nginx, SSL, PHP, and other applications.

You can install modules, tailor configurations, and fine-tune performance based on your project’s needs.

Conclusion

Nginx is a powerful and efficient web server that dramatically boosts website performance, scalability, and reliability. Whether you’re running a small site or a high-traffic application, Nginx offers the speed and stability needed to keep everything running flawlessly.

Following the installation steps and exploring the features discussed above will help you unlock the full potential of this high-performance server.