Skip to main content

Nginx Management

The Nginx tab on the server page gives you visibility into the nginx process running on your server, along with controls to manage it — all without needing SSH access.

Server Nginx tab showing status, actions, and error logs

Status​

The status section shows:

  • Nginx mode — how nginx is deployed on this server:
    • Host Service — nginx is installed directly on the host OS and managed via systemd
    • Dockerized — nginx runs as a Docker container
    • Cluster Load Balancer — nginx acts as the entry point for a Docker Swarm cluster
  • Running status — whether nginx is currently active
  • Config validity — whether the current nginx configuration passes a syntax check (nginx -t)

Actions​

The following controls are available to server owners and admins:

ActionDescription
StartStart the nginx process if it is stopped
StopStop the nginx process
ReloadReload the nginx configuration without dropping connections (graceful reload)
RestartStop and restart the nginx process

Using Reload to Check Config Errors​

After making changes to an application's Nginx configuration (for example, enabling Use Custom Nginx Configuration in Application Settings), use the Reload button to apply the new config. After reload, the Config validity status updates to reflect whether the new configuration is valid.

If there is a syntax error in a custom nginx config, the reload will fail and the error will appear in the error log. This lets you catch and fix problems from the dashboard before they affect your applications.

tip

Always use Reload rather than Restart when applying configuration changes — it is graceful and does not interrupt active connections.

Error Logs​

The error logs section displays recent entries from the nginx error log. Use this to diagnose:

  • Configuration syntax errors after a failed reload
  • Upstream connection failures (application not responding)
  • SSL/TLS issues
  • 502/504 gateway errors

Logs are fetched directly from the server and displayed in the dashboard — no SSH required.

Nginx Deployment Modes​

Appliku deploys nginx in one of three modes depending on your server and cluster configuration:

  • Host Service — the default for standalone servers. Nginx is installed on the host and managed by systemd. Configuration files are written to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/.
  • Dockerized — nginx runs as a Docker container alongside your application containers. Used in some containerized setups.
  • Cluster Load Balancer — on Docker Swarm clusters, nginx serves as the ingress load balancer, routing traffic to the appropriate service replicas.

The mode is detected automatically and shown in the status section.