Web Server Service (Nginx)

The Nginx web server functions as a gateway from the open internet to your Liferay Cloud services. It handles all traffic from your users and acts as a high-performance web server.

See the Web server service limitations section for more information.

Configurations

Although Liferay Cloud’s services are fine-tuned to work well by default, you may need to configure Nginx further. To do this, you can include any configuration (.conf) file inside the configs/[ENV]/conf.d/ folder. When you deploy your changes, the file is automatically injected into your service and overwrites the default configuration. Here’s an example folder structure with a configuration file inside the appropriate directory:

webserver
├── configs
│   └── common
│       └── conf.d
│           └── nginx.conf
└── LCP.json

Important

As of web server version 6.0.0+, the nginx.conf file does not allow configurations that require root user permissions. See Breaking Changes for more information.

Files in /webserver/configs/[ENV]/ are copied as overrides into /etc/nginx/ in the web server container in Liferay Cloud. Files in /webserver/configs/[ENV]/public/ are copied as overrides into var/www/html/.

Automatic Log Rotation

Web server version 5.3.0+

Nginx’s access and error logs (by default, stored in the Nginx container’s /var/log/nginx/ directory) automatically rotate to prevent the individual files from becoming too large to read. On a regular interval (by default, every midnight in UTC), the current access and error log files are rotated and replaced with new files. Automatic rotation also occurs if the files reach a certain maximum size threshold (by default, 50 MB).

The newest files after rotation are created with a .0 postfix to the file names, and successively older files have postfixes ordered sequentially (.1, .2, etc.). The rotation is handled smoothly and does not interrupt Nginx or your service’s regular function.

You can define these environment variables in your web server service to adjust the rotation behavior:

• LCP_LOGROTATE_SCHEDULE: Defines the schedule for automatic rotation (using a Cron schedule syntax, in UTC±00).

• LCP_LOGROTATE_FILE_SIZE: Defines a maximum size for log files before they are rotated automatically.

• LCP_LOGROTATE_FILE_COUNT: Defines the maximum number of rotated log files to keep in the container.

Scripts

You can use scripts for more extensive customizations, but you must use caution when doing so. This is the most powerful way to customize the web server service and can cause undesired side effects.

Important

As of web server version 6.0.0+, the web server service runs as the nginx user, not as root. Avoid scripting tasks that require root access to run. See Breaking Changes for more information.

Any .sh files found in the configs/[ENV]/scripts/ folder are run before starting your service. For example, you can place a script in this directory structure to remove all log files:

webserver
├── configs
│   └── common
│       └── scripts
│           └── remove-log-files.sh
└── LCP.json

Key Deployment Directories

File Type	Path	Description
Web server configurations	webserver/configs/[ENV]/conf.d/	Configuration files, including nginx.conf.
Static content	webserver/configs/[ENV]/public/	Static content served to your site.
Custom scripts	webserver/configs/[ENV]/scripts/	Scripts here automatically run when the service starts.

Environment Variables

These environment variables are available for the web server service:

Name	Default value	Description
LCP_HAPROXY_RESOLVER_HOLD_TIME	10	Configures the hold configuration for the HAProxy load balancer. This configuration is for the valid status.
LCP_HAPROXY_RESOLVER_RETRIES	3	Configures the resolve_retries configuration for the HAProxy load balancer (the number of retries the session attempts to connect to the server before giving up).
LCP_HAPROXY_RESOLVER_TIMEOUT_RESOLVE	1	Configures the timeout configuration for the HAProxy load balancer (the number of seconds for an event timeout). This configuration is for the resolve event.
LCP_HAPROXY_RESOLVER_TIMEOUT_RETRY	1	Configures the timeout configuration for the HAProxy load balancer (the number of seconds for an event timeout). This configuration is for the retry event.
LCP_HAPROXY_SERVER_TEMPLATE_BACKEND_NUM	10	Overrides the maximum number of instances for any service. If you plan to use auto-scaling, then set this to the highest value needed.
LCP_LOG_NGINX_CONF	false	Enables logging the content of the nginx.conf file during startup.
LCP_LOGROTATE_FILE_COUNT	52	The maximum number of Nginx access and error logs to keep (for each) after automatic rotation. The oldest files are removed beyond this limit.
LCP_LOGROTATE_FILE_SIZE	50M	The maximum size an Nginx access or error log can reach before it forces automatic log rotation.
LCP_LOGROTATE_SCHEDULE	0 0 * * *	A Cron schedule for when automatic Nginx log rotation occurs.
LCP_WEBSERVER_LOG_FORMAT		Customizes the format for Nginx logging. See the official Nginx documentation.
LCP_WEBSERVER_MODSECURITY	Off	Enables or disables ModSecurity. Set this value to On to enable and process rules, or to DetectionOnly to process rules without executing any disruptive actions. See Web Application Firewall.

The Ingress Load Balancer is also configured via the web server service. Environment variables can be added to this service to configure the load balancer and custom domains. See the Load Balancer environment variables reference for more information.

All environment variables and other forms of configuration for Nginx are in the official Nginx documentation. You can set such configurations in the configs/[ENV]/ directory, and environment variables in the service’s LCP.json file.