Nginx - wikipedia Nginx This article relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources. ( June 2015 ) Nginx Original author ( s ) Igor Sysoev Developer ( s ) Nginx, Inc. Initial release 4 October 2004 ; 13 years ago ( 2004 - 10 - 04 ) Stable release 1.14. 0 ( 17 April 2018 ; 9 days ago ( 2018 - 04 - 17 ) ) ( ± ) Preview release 1.13. 12 ( 10 April 2018 ; 16 days ago ( 2018 - 04 - 10 ) ) ( ± ) Repository http://hg.nginx.org/nginx/ https://github.com/nginx/nginx Written in Operating system BSD variants, HP - UX, IBM AIX, Linux, macOS, Solaris, Windows, and other * nix flavors Type Web server, reverse / mail proxy server License 2 - clause BSD Website nginx.org Nginx ( / ˌɛndʒɪnˈɛks / EN - jin - EKS ) ( stylized as NGINX, NGiИX or nginx ) is a web server which can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer and HTTP cache. The software was created by Igor Sysoev and first publicly released in 2004. A company of the same name was founded in 2011 to provide support. Nginx is free and open - source software, released under the terms of a BSD - like license. A large fraction of web servers use NGINX, often as a load balancer. Contents 1 Popularity 2 Features 2.1 HTTP proxy and Web server features 2.2 Mail proxy features 3 Performance vs Apache 4 History 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Popularity According to Netcraft 's November 2016 Web Server Survey, Nginx was found to be the second most widely used web server across all `` active '' sites ( 18.22 % of surveyed sites ) and for the top million busiest sites ( 27.83 % of surveyed sites ). According to W3Techs, it was used by 37.7 % of the top 1 million websites, 49.7 % of the top 100,000 websites, and by 57.0 % of the top 10,000 websites. According to BuiltWith, it is used on 38.2 % of the top 10,000 websites, and its growth within the top 10k, 100k and 1 million segments increased. Wikipedia uses Nginx as its SSL termination proxy. As of OpenBSD release 5.2 ( 1 November 2012 ), Nginx became part of the OpenBSD base system, providing an alternative to the system 's fork of Apache 1.3, which it was intended to replace, but it was later replaced by OpenBSD 's own httpd ( 8 ). Features Nginx can be deployed to serve dynamic HTTP content on the network using FastCGI, SCGI handlers for scripts, WSGI application servers or Phusion Passenger modules, and it can serve as a software load balancer. Nginx uses an asynchronous event - driven approach to handling requests. Nginx 's modular event - driven architecture can provide more predictable performance under high loads. HTTP proxy and Web server features Ability to handle more than 10,000 simultaneous connections with a low memory footprint ( ~ 2.5 MB per 10k inactive HTTP keep - alive connections ) Handling of static files, index files and auto - indexing Reverse proxy with caching Load balancing with in - band health checks TLS / SSL with SNI and OCSP stapling support, via OpenSSL. FastCGI, SCGI, uWSGI support with caching Name - and IP address - based virtual servers IPv6 - compatible WebSockets and HTTP / 1.1 Upgrade ( 101 Switching Protocols ) Mail proxy features TLS / SSL support STARTTLS support SMTP, POP3, and IMAP proxy Authentication using an external HTTP server Other features include upgrading executable and configuration without client connections loss, and a module - based architecture with both core and third - party module support. The paid Plus product includes additional features such as advanced load balancing and access to an expanded suite of metrics for performance monitoring. Performance vs. Apache Nginx was written with an explicit goal of outperforming the Apache web server. Out of the box, serving static files, Nginx uses dramatically less memory than Apache, and can handle roughly four times more requests per second. This performance boost comes at a cost of decreased flexibility, such as the ability to override systemwide access settings on a per - file basis ( Apache accomplishes this with an. htaccess file, while Nginx has no such feature built in ). Formerly, adding third party modules to nginx required recompiling the application from source with the modules statically linked. This was partially overcome in version 1.9. 11 with the addition of dynamic module loading. However, the modules still must be compiled at the same time as nginx, and not all modules are compatible with this system -- some require the older static linking process. History Nginx, Inc. Type Private Industry Technology Founded 2011 Headquarters San Francisco, California, U.S. Key people Gus Robertson ( CEO ), Igor Sysoev ( CTO ) Products Web servers Website nginx.com Igor Sysoev began development of Nginx in 2002. Originally, Nginx was developed to solve the C10k problem, and to fill the needs of websites including Rambler search engine and portal, for which it was serving 500 million requests per day by September 2008. A company of the same name was founded in July 2011 by Sysoev to provide commercial products and support for the software. The company 's principal place of business is San Francisco, California, while legally incorporated in British Virgin Islands. In October 2011, Nginx raised $3 million from BV Capital, Runa Capital and MSD Capital, Michael Dell 's venture fund. The company announced commercial support options for companies using Nginx in production. Nginx offered commercial support in February 2012, and paid Nginx Plus subscription in August 2013. Support packages focus on installation, configuration, performance improvement, etc. Support includes proactive notifications about major changes, security patches, updates and patches. WordPress developer Automattic and content delivery network provider MaxCDN became funding partners for an update to Google 's SPDY version 3.1, slated for early 2014. Nginx also offers consulting services to assist customers in custom configuration or adding additional features. In October 2013, Nginx raised a $10 million series B investment round led by New Enterprise Associates. That round included previous investors, as well as Aaron Levie, CEO and founder of Box.com. In December 2014, Nginx raised a $20 million series B1 round led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from e. ventures ( formerly BV Capital ), Runa Capital, Index Ventures and Nginx 's own CEO Gus Robertson. See also Free software portal Comparison of web server software Web accelerator URL redirection § nginx rewrite List of Nginx -- MySQL -- PHP packages References Jump up ^ `` CHANGES ''. Retrieved 16 May 2017. Jump up ^ Dounin, Maxim ( 17 April 2018 ). `` nginx - 1.14. 0 ''. nginx - announce ( Mailing list ). Retrieved 21 April 2018. Jump up ^ Dounin, Maxim ( 10 April 2018 ). `` nginx - 1.13. 12 ''. nginx - announce ( Mailing list ). Retrieved 13 April 2018. Jump up ^ `` The NGINX Open Source Project on Ohloh ''. ohloh.net. Retrieved 7 March 2013. Jump up ^ `` nginx for Windows ''. Retrieved 28 May 2014. Jump up ^ `` Tested OS and platforms ''. Retrieved 15 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Licensing ''. Retrieved 18 January 2013. ^ Jump up to : Tony Mobily ( 5 January 2012 ). `` Interview with Igor Sysoev, author of Apache 's competitor NGINX ''. Free Software Magazine. Retrieved 18 October 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities ''. Form D. US Securities and Exchange Commission 17 October 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2016. Jump up ^ https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2017/01/12/january-2017-web-server-survey.html Jump up ^ https://www.linode.com/docs/uptime/loadbalancing/use-nginx-as-a-front-end-proxy-and-software-load-balancer Jump up ^ `` November 2016 Web Server Survey ''. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Usage of web servers broken down by ranking ''. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Builtwith : nginx Usage Statistics ''. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Wikitech : HTTPS ''. Wikitech.wikimedia.org. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2011. Jump up ^ OpenBSD Upgrade Guide : 5.1 to 5.2, 2012 / 11 / 06 15 : 00 : 27 sthen Jump up ^ `` Heads Up : Nginx Removed From Base ''. Jump up ^ Use nginx for Proxy Services and Software Load Balancing, 11 May 2010, by Sam Kleinman, Linode Library Jump up ^ `` The Architecture of Open Source Applications ( Volume 2 ) : nginx ''. aosabook.org. Retrieved 10 June 2015. Jump up ^ Basic nginx Configuration by Sam Kleinman ; 21 August 2010 Jump up ^ `` Module ngx_http_upstream_module ''. nginx.org. Retrieved 14 August 2012. Jump up ^ `` Proxy : support for connection upgrade ( 101 Switching Protocols ) ''. trac.nginx.org. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013. Jump up ^ `` Module ngx_mail_auth_http_module ''. nginx.org. Retrieved 13 September 2012. Jump up ^ `` Official documentation : Controlling nginx ''. nginx.org. Retrieved 3 December 2011. Jump up ^ `` nginx documentation ''. nginx.org. Retrieved 9 June 2015. Jump up ^ `` 3rdPartyModules -- Nginx Community ''. wiki.nginx.org. Retrieved 9 June 2015. Jump up ^ `` How to monitor NGINX ''. Datadog. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015. Jump up ^ `` Application Load Balancing with NGINX Plus ''. NGINX. Retrieved 9 July 2015. Jump up ^ `` NGINX vs. Apache : Our View of a Decade - Old Question ''. NGINX. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Web server performance comparison ''. DreamHost. Retrieved 28 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` NGINX vs. Apache ( Pro / Con Review, Uses, & Hosting for Each ) - HostingAdvice.com ''. HostingAdvice.com. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Introducing Dynamic Modules in NGINX 1.9. 11 - NGINX ''. NGINX. 2016 - 02 - 09. Retrieved 2017 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Choosing Your Web Server : Apache Vs. Nginx ''. Eyerys. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Nginx : the High - Performance Web Server and Reverse Proxy ''. Linux Journal. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` Company ''. nginx.com. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012. Jump up ^ Natasha Starkell ( 11 October 2011 ). `` Russian Nginx Raises $3 Million From International Investors ''. Techcrunch. Retrieved 20 November 2014. Jump up ^ Darryl K. Taft ( 8 February 2012 ). `` NGINX Launches Commercial Support for Open - Source Web Server ''. e Week. Retrieved 18 October 2013. Jump up ^ Steven J. Vaughan - Nichols ( 8 February 2012 ). `` Commercial Support now available for the open - source NGINX Web server ''. ZDNet Open Source blog. Retrieved 18 October 2013. Jump up ^ `` Nginx Inc. Launches NGINX Plus ''. 22 August 2013. Jump up ^ Taft, Darryl K. ( 8 February 2012 ). `` NGINX Launches Commercial Support for Open - Source Web Server ''. eweek.com. Retrieved 24 February 2012. Jump up ^ Shankland, Stephen ( 20 December 2013 ). `` Nginx upgrade funded by fans of Google 's SPDY Web protocol ''. CNET. Retrieved 6 January 2014. Jump up ^ `` Commercial Support now available for the open - source NGINX Web server ''. ZDNet. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012. Jump up ^ Sean Michael Kerner ( 16 October 2013 ). `` Nginx Raises $10 Million in New Funding for Server Development ''. e Week. Retrieved 18 October 2013. Jump up ^ Frederic Lardinois ( 15 October 2013 ). `` Nginx Raises $10 M Series B Round Led By NEA ''. Techcrunch. Retrieved 20 November 2014. Jump up ^ Jolie O'Dell ( 15 October 2013 ). `` Nginx ties up a sweet $10 M funding deal and hundreds of millions of users ''. Venture Beat. Retrieved 18 October 2013. Jump up ^ Frederic Lardinois ( 9 December 2014 ). `` Nginx Raises $20 M Series B1 Round To Drive International Expansion ''. Techcrunch. Retrieved 9 December 2014. Jump up ^ Jordan Novet ( 9 December 2014 ). `` Nginx gets $20 M, because an open - source web server is just the beginning ''. VentureBeat. Retrieved 9 December 2014. External links Official website Web server software Comparisons Most popular Apache Nginx IIS IIS Express LiteSpeed Web Server Other Cherokee Hiawatha iPlanet Lighttpd Mongoose Mongrel2 Monkey POCO Traffic Server Jexus Yaws Caddy GlassFish Jetty JOnAS NetWeaver Resin thttpd Tomcat WebLogic WebSphere WildFly Caudium Roxen Gunicorn Paste Tornado Twisted PyGopherd Zope WEBrick Passenger AOLserver NaviServer JEUS Retired Boa CERN httpd NCSA HTTPd Xitami Zeus Mongrel Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nginx&oldid=835925621 '' Categories : 2002 software Companies established in 2011 Cross-platform free software Forward proxy Free proxy servers Free software programmed in C Free web server software Proxy server software for Linux Reverse proxy Software companies of Russia Software using the BSD license Unix network - related software Web server software for Linux Hidden categories : Articles lacking reliable references from June 2015 All articles lacking reliable references Use dmy dates from December 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Latviešu Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Slovenščina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska తెలుగు Türkçe Українська 中文 20 more Edit links This page was last edited on 11 April 2018, at 16 : 25. 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Question: what is nginx and what is it used for
Answer: a web server which can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer and HTTP cache