Nginx Built-in Modules

--prefix=/usr/local/nginx        # Installation directory
--sbin-path=/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx  # Binary executable path
--conf-path=/usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf  # Configuration file path
--error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log  # Error log location
--pid-path=/var/run/nginx.pid  # Process ID file
--lock-path=/var/lock/nginx.lock  # Lock file for atomic operations
--user=nginx  # Non-privileged user for worker processes
--group=nginx  # Non-privileged group for worker processes
--with-rtsig_module  # Real-time signal support
--with-select_module  # Select poll method (not recommended for high load)
--without-select_module  # Disable select module
--with-poll_module  # POLL poll method
--with-file-aio  # Asynchronous file I/O support
--with-ipv6  # IPv6 protocol support
--with-http_ssl_module  # HTTPS/SSL support (requires OpenSSL)
--with-http_realip_module  # Client IP address rewrite from headers
--with-http_addition_module  # Response filtering with appended content
--with-http_xslt_module  # XSLT transformation support
--with-http_image_filter_module  # Image filtering (JPEG/GIF/PNG processing)
--with-http_geoip_module  # Geographic IP-based variable creation
--with-http_sub_module  # Text substitution in responses
--with-http_dav_module  # WebDAV methods (PUT, DELETE, MKCOL, COPY, MOVE)
--with-http_flv_module  # FLV streaming support
--with-http_gzip_static_module  # Pre-compressed gzip responses
--with-http_random_index_module  # Random index file selection
--with-http_secure_link_module  # URL signature verification
--with-http_degradation_module  # Memory degradation handling
--with-http_stub_status_module  # Status page monitoring
--without-http_charset_module  # Disable charset re-encoding
--without-http_gzip_module  # Disable dynamic gzip compression
--without-http_ssi_module  # Disable Server Side Includes
--without-http_userid_module  # Disable user ID cookies
--without-http_access_module  # Disable IP-based access control
--without-http_auth_basic_module  # Disable Basic authentication
--without-http_autoindex_module  # Disable directory listing
--without-http_geo_module  # Disable geographic variables
--without-http_map_module  # Disable mapping variables
--without-http_split_clients_module  # Disable A/B testing split client
--without-http_referer_module  # Disable referer validation
--without-http_rewrite_module  # Disable URI rewrite
--without-http_proxy_module  # Disable proxy module
--without-http_fastcgi_module  # Disable FastCGI gateway
--without-http_uwsgi_module  # Disable uWSGI protocol
--without-http_scgi_module  # Disable SCGI protocol
--without-http_memcached_module  # Disable memcached integration
--without-http_limit_zone_module  # Disable connection limiting
--without-http_limit_req_module  # Disable request rate limiting
--without-http_empty_gif_module  # Disable empty GIF pixel
--without-http_browser_module  # Disable browser detection
--without-http_upstream_ip_hash_module  # Disable upstream IP hash load balancing
--with-http_perl_module  # Perl scripting support
--with-perl_modules_path=/usr/local/nginx/perl  # Perl module search path
--with-perl=/usr/local/lib/libperl.so  # Perl library path
--http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log  # Access log location
--http-client-body-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/client  # Client request body cache
--http-proxy-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/proxy  # Proxy response cache
--http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/fastcgi  # FastCGI response cache
--http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/uwsgi  # uWSGI response cache
--http-scgi-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/scgi  # SCGI response cache
--without-http  # Disable HTTP server entirely
--without-http-cache  # Disable caching functionality
--with-mail  # Enable mail proxy (POP3/IMAP/SMTP)
--with-mail_ssl_module  # Mail SSL/TLS support
--without-mail_pop3_module  # Disable POP3 protocol
--without-mail_imap_module  # Disable IMAP protocol
--without-mail_smtp_module  # Disable SMTP protocol
--with-google_perftools_module  # Google Performance Tools profiling
--with-cpp_test_module  # C++ test module
--add-module=/path/to/external/module  # Enable third-party module
--with-cc=/usr/bin/gcc  # C compiler path
--with-cpp=/usr/bin/cpp  # C preprocessor path
--with-cc-opt="-I/usr/local/include -O2"  # C compiler options
--with-ld-opt="-L/usr/local/lib"  # Linker options
--with-cpu-opt=pentium4  # Target CPU architecture
--without-pcre  # Disable PCRE regex library
--with-pcre  # Enable PCRE library
--with-pcre=/usr/local  # PCRE library path
--with-pcre-opt="-O2"  # PCRE compilation options
--with-md5=/usr/local  # MD5 library path
--with-sha1=/usr/local  # SHA1 library path
--with-zlib=/usr/local  # zlib compression library path
--with-libatomic  # Atomic operations library
--with-openssl=/usr/local/openssl  # OpenSSL library path
--with-debug  # Enable debug logging

Compiling Nginx with Additional Modules

Prerequisites

Ensure Nginx is already installed. The binary can be replaced with a newly compiled version containing addditional modules.

Target Module

This example adds the echo module for debugging output capabilities.

Environment

• Operating System: CentOS 7.3
• Nginx Version: 1.8.0
• Installation Path: /usr/local/nginx

Compilation Steps

1. Download and extract the echo module:

wget https://github.com/openresty/echo-nginx-module/archive/v0.60.tar.gz
tar xf v0.60.tar.gz

2. Create a module directory to preserve the module source:

mkdir /usr/local/nginx/module
mv echo-nginx-module-0.60 /usr/local/nginx/module/

3. Display current compilation options:

nginx -V

4. Configure with existing options plus the new module:

./configure \
    --prefix=/usr/local/nginx \
    --user=nginx \
    --group=nginx \
    --with-http_ssl_module \
    --with-http_spdy_module \
    --with-http_stub_status_module \
    --with-pcre \
    --add-module=/usr/local/nginx/module/echo-nginx-module-0.60/

5. Compile the binary (do NOT run make install):

make

6. Replace the Nginx binary:

cp /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx.backup
cp objs/nginx /usr/local/nginx/sbin/

Verification

nginx -t
nginx -s reload
nginx -V

Adding Modules to YUM-installed Nginx

Overview

When Nginx is installed via YUM, adding modules requires recompilation from source while preserving existing configuration.

Process

1. Record existing compilation parameters:

nginx -V

2. Obtain the matching source code version from nginx.org

3. Configure with existing parameters plus new module paths:

./configure \
    [existing parameters] \
    --prefix=/tmp/nginx \
    --add-module=/path/to/new/module
make
make install

4. Replace the binary:

cp /tmp/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/sbin/nginx.new
mv /usr/sbin/nginx /usr/sbin/nginx.orig
cp /tmp/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/sbin/nginx

5. Verify:

nginx -V

External Modules

stub_status Module

Purpose

The stub_status module exposes server statistics including active connections and request counts.

Configuration

Compile with support:

./configure --with-http_stub_status_module

Add location block to server:

server {
    location /server-status {
        stub_status on;
        allow 127.0.0.1;
        deny all;
        access_log off;
    }
}

Response Format

Active connections: 5
server accepts handled requests
 5970806143 5970806143 7560482010
Reading: 0 Writing: 5 Waiting: 0

• Active connections: Current connections to upstream servers
• Server acepts handled requests: Total connections accepted, handshakes completed, requests processed
• Reading: Connections reading request headers
• Writing: Connections sending response headers
• Waiting: Idle keepalive connections (active - reading - writing)

nginx_upstream_check_module

Purpose

This module provides active health checking for upstream servers, automatically detecting failed backends.

Source

https://github.com/yaoweibin/nginx_upstream_check_module

Configuration

1. Download and extract:

wget https://github.com/yaoweibin/nginx_upstream_check_module/archive/v0.3.0.tar.gz

2. Add module path during configure:

--add-module=/path/to/nginx_upstream_check_module

3. Define upstream with health checks:

upstream backend {
    server 192.168.1.11:8080;
    server 192.168.1.12:8080;
    
    check interval=3000 rise=2 fall=3 timeout=3000 type=http;
    check_http_send "GET /health HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n";
    check_http_expect_alive http_2xx http_3xx;
}

4. Add status location:

server {
    location /health-status {
        check_status;
        access_log off;
    }
}

echo Module

Purpose

The echo module enables debug output within configuration blocks, useful for testing and troubleshooting.

Source

https://github.com/openresty/echo-nginx-module

Usage

location /debug {
    echo "Request received from $remote_addr";
    echo "Method: $request_method";
    echo "URI: $request_uri";
}