proxy_buffering=off, potential problems? other solutions?

[Gábor Farkas]

hi,

i have a fairly usual configuration of an nginx webserver + an 
apache-based application-server behind it.

when requests come in, then nginx proxies it to apache, etc.

my problem is, that in certain cases, i need that when apache sends the 
response to nginx, nginx should immediately send it to the client.

i can solve this by simply turning proxy_buffering off, with 
"proxy_buffering = off", but i'd like to know:

1. what effect can this have? can it degrade performance?

2. is there perhaps a different solution? for example sending back to 
nginx a special header perhaps, or something like that?

in short, is it recommended to simply turn off proxy_buffering in such 
situations, or is there a better approach?

thanks,
gabor