Install & Configure Nginx

Install Nginx as a reverse proxy in front of AnyLog nodes, giving Kubernetes-deployed nodes a stable, static address instead of a pod IP that changes on every redeploy.

Nginx is a web server that can also act as a reverse proxy. In front of AnyLog nodes, it provides a static IP address instead of the virtual IP Kubernetes assigns a pod each time it’s redeployed. Nginx (or another proxy service) needs to be installed and configured on every machine that needs to communicate with these nodes.

Installation

  1. Install Nginx as a service:
sudo apt-get -y install nginx
sudo service nginx start
  1. Validate Nginx is running by browsing to your local IP: http://${LOCAL_IP}
  • Via cURL:
curl http://${LOCAL_IP}

# Expected Output
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to nginx!</title>
<style>
    body {
        width: 35em;
        margin: 0 auto;
        font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
    }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to nginx!</h1>
<p>If you see this page, the nginx web server is successfully installed and
working. Further configuration is required.</p>

<p>For online documentation and support please refer to
<a href="http://nginx.org/">nginx.org</a>.<br/>
Commercial support is available at
<a href="http://nginx.com/">nginx.com</a>.</p>

<p><em>Thank you for using nginx.</em></p>
</body>
</html>
  • In a browser, it looks like this:

nginx welcome message

Configuring

  1. Remove the default files — we’ll recreate them in the following steps:
sudo rm -rf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo rm -rf /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
  1. Get the kube-apiserver IP address — required for a minikube deployment, but may not be needed for other Kubernetes deployment tools such as kubeadm:
minikube ip
  1. Create a new file for REST communication:
sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/anylog.conf
  1. Add the following content to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/anylog.conf. The two server blocks below are alternatives — use the ${KUBE_APISERVER_IP} variable form generally, or the filled-in 192.168.49.2 form if you’re on minikube specifically and already know that IP. Don’t include both:
# nginx default webpage - this generates the default nginx homepage
server {
  listen 80;
  server_name _;
}

# AnyLog Node - make sure the IP & REST Port are correct. This section needs to be repeated for each AnyLog node
# on the machine. Additionally, when using NGINX with docker, the listen port must be different from the
# proxy_pass port, since the two sit on the same network card when the docker host is configured to "network"
server {
  listen 32049;
  server_name _;
  location / {
    proxy_set_header Host            $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
    proxy_pass http://${KUBE_APISERVER_IP}:32049;
  }
}

# --- Alternative: filled in for when kube-apiserver IP is 192.168.49.2 (minikube) ---
server {
  listen 32049;
  server_name _;
  location / {
    proxy_set_header Host            $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
    proxy_pass http://192.168.49.2:32049;
  }
}
  1. Update /etc/nginx/nginx.conf to support TCP and Message Broker (if set) communication. As above, the two stream blocks are alternatives, not both-at-once:
# 1. Import the ngx_stream_module.so module at the top of the file.
# On Ubuntu 20.04 this import was needed; on later Ubuntu versions it wasn't.
include /usr/lib/nginx/modules/ngx_stream_module.so;

# 2. At the bottom, add a stream block — each AnyLog node (on the same machine) should have its own upstream &
# server process(es) within the stream section
stream {
    # AnyLog TCP Connection - repeat the next two blocks for each node
    upstream anylog_node {
        server ${KUBE_APISERVER_IP}:32048;
    }
    server {
        listen 32048 so_keepalive=on;
        proxy_pass anylog_node;
    }
    # AnyLog Message Broker Connection - repeat the next two blocks for each node
    upstream anylog_node_broker {
        server ${KUBE_APISERVER_IP}:32050;
    }
    server {
        listen 32050 so_keepalive=on;
        proxy_pass anylog_node_broker;
    }
}

# --- Alternative: filled in for when kube-apiserver IP is 192.168.49.2 (minikube) ---
stream {
    upstream anylog_node {
        server 192.168.49.2:32048;
    }
    server {
        listen 32048 so_keepalive=on;
        proxy_pass anylog_node;
    }
    upstream anylog_node_broker {
        server 192.168.49.2:32050;
    }
    server {
        listen 32050 so_keepalive=on;
        proxy_pass anylog_node_broker;
    }
}
  1. After changing the Nginx configuration, reload and restart the service:
sudo service nginx reload
sudo service nginx restart

If the restart fails, it likely means the include line added in step 5 isn’t needed on your Ubuntu version (see the note in that step) — remove it and repeat step 6.

  1. To reach the AnyLog node from outside the local network, open the corresponding port(s) on the router as well.