Customizing NGINX with Reverse Proxy in cPanel & WHM

1. Overview

You can customize NGINX® with reverse proxy in several ways on a cPanel & WHM server. These customizations include global configuration settings, server block adjustments, user-level configurations, Cloudflare integration, file access restrictions, and performance tuning.

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2. Global Configuration Settings

You can configure certain NGINX directives through WHM’s Global Configuration interface:

WHM » Home » Service Configuration » Apache Configuration » Global Configuration

The following settings correspond to NGINX directives:

• Keep-Alive → keepalive When set to On, NGINX uses a value of 32. To use a custom value, edit /etc/nginx/ea-nginx/settings.json.
• Keep-Alive Timeout → keepalive_timeout NGINX uses only the value set in WHM.
• Max Keep-Alive Requests → keepalive_requests If set to Unlimited, NGINX uses 1000.

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3. Global Configuration Files

Place any global .conf files in:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/

To modify all server blocks, place your file in:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/server-includes/

Note: You must reference your file using an include directive.

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4. Server Blocks

To customize NGINX server blocks (equivalent to Apache virtual hosts), create a .conf include file in the appropriate directory.

Each server block automatically includes files from:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/server-includes/

Warning: Do not use the prefix cpanel- for custom files.

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5. User Configuration

Use the following paths to customize user-specific server blocks:

All server blocks for a user:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/users/username/

Specific domain:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/users/username/domainname/

Addon domains:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/users/username/addondomain.domainname/*.conf

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6. Custom Server Configurations

Warning: Do not edit NGINX-owned files. Doing so may cause unexpected behavior.

To customize NGINX before installation, create:

/var/nginx/ea-nginx/settings.json
/var/nginx/ea-nginx/cache.json

During installation or rebuild, these files are copied to:

/etc/nginx/ea-nginx/settings.json
/etc/nginx/ea-nginx/cache.json

Supported directives in settings.json:

• keepalive_time
• worker_shutdown_timeout
• worker_processes

Important: Files must contain valid JSON.

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7. Manage Cloudflare Configuration

By default, NGINX configures Cloudflare proxies in:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/users/example.conf

To disable Cloudflare integration:

• Add include_cloudflare: false to /etc/nginx/ea-nginx/settings.json.
• Rebuild or restart NGINX.

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8. Restrict File Access

To block access to sensitive directories (e.g., .git), create a .conf file and add:

location ~ /\.git {
    deny all;
    log_not_found off;
    access_log off;
    return 404;
}

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9. Increase NGINX Worker Processes

To increase worker_processes:

1. Edit /etc/nginx/ea-nginx/settings.json.
2. Increase the worker_processes value (doubling is recommended).
3. Test configuration:

nginx -t

If successful, restart NGINX.

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10. Add the X-Cache-Status Header

To track cache behavior:

1. Edit /etc/nginx/ea-nginx/cache.json.
2. Change:

"x_cache_header": false,

to:

"x_cache_header": true,

Important: Do not remove the comma.

Rebuild NGINX to apply changes.

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Conclusion

With these customization options, you can fine‑tune NGINX behavior on your cPanel & WHM server. From global settings to user‑level configurations, Cloudflare management, file access restrictions, and performance tuning, NGINX provides a flexible and powerful reverse proxy environment.