NGINX

NGINX (pronounced "engine-x") is a high-performance, open-source web server and reverse proxy server. It's known for its efficient handling of web traffic and its ability to serve as a load balancer. NGINX is widely used to improve website performance, security, and scalability. It can also function as a proxy server for applications and offers features like SSL/TLS termination, caching, and content delivery. NGINX is popular for its speed and reliability in serving web content.

Installation

Install the dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release lsof psmisc

Import an official Nginx signing key:

curl https://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key | gpg --dearmor \
    | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null

Ensure that the downloaded file contains the correct key

gpg --dry-run --quiet --import --import-options import-show /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg

Now, proceed to set up the APT repository for stable Nginx packages:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg] \
http://nginx.org/packages/debian `lsb_release -cs` nginx" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list

Install NGINX:

sudo apt install nginx

Launch test

After installation check the NGINX status (it will probably be enabled but inactive):

sudo systemctl status nginx

Start the service:

sudo systemctl start nginx.service

To test the setup, open your browser and enter localhost in the URL bar, or type it in your terminal

curl localhost

If you receive a successful message, you can now stop NGINX

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo killall nginx

Configuration

Navigate to the configuration directory:

cd /etc/nginx/conf.d

You may find the file default.conf. You can rename it or create the files rpc.conf and api.conf

sudo mv default.conf rpc.conf
sudo nano rpc.conf
sudo nano api.conf

Copy the following template into the rpc.conf and replace mynodename with your domain

rpc.conf

server {
    server_name rpc.sentinel.mynodename.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:26657;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection;

        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET, POST, OPTIONS';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'DNT,X-CustomHeader,Keep-Alive,User-Agent,X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type';
    }

    listen [::]:80;
    listen 80;
}

Copy the following template into the api.conf and replace mynodename with your domain

api.conf

server {
    server_name api.sentinel.mynodename.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:1317;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
    }

    listen [::]:80;
    listen 80;
}

Now, install the Certbot plugin

sudo apt install python3-certbot-nginx

Enable port 80 and 443 on your firewall

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp

Apply Certbot plugin to the rpc.conf file to enable redirection to HTTPS and select the number corresponding to your Full Node

sudo certbot --nginx

You will be prompted to:

add your email
accept terms and conditions
Press Enter to select all the listed domains (rpc and api)

Before restarting NGINX the following command to test the configuration for syntax errors:

sudo nginx -t

Restart NGINX

sudo systemctl restart nginx

If anyhing goes wrong, run this command to check the logs:

sudo tail -n 50 /var/log/nginx/error.log

If you encounter no errors, you can finally test whether your RPC is now public:

https://rpc.sentinel.mynodename.com

Installation​

Launch test​

Configuration​

Installation

Launch test

Configuration