Nginx as reverse proxy scalability

[Maxim Konovalov]

On 5/10/16 6:04 PM, Maxim Dounin wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 12:26:59PM +0200, Artur wrote:
> 
>> I'm currently working on nginx limits as a reverse proxy on a Debian box.
>> My current setup is a nginx configured as a http/https web server (for
>> static content) and a reverse proxy for node.js processes on the same
>> server and in future on other Debian boxes.
>> I was unable to see (while reading the documentation) real hard
>> limitations for nginx in this setup excepting ephemeral ports exhaustion.
>> It may be a concern as Node.js applications usually open a websocket
>> that is connected as long as a user stays connected to the application.
>> If I understood everything correctly it means that nginx in this setup
>> will not be able to manage more than about 64k clients connections.
>> Am I right ? What can be done if I would like to go over this 64k limit
>> ? Could you please suggest a solution ?
> 
> As long as you are using TCP/IP and have only one backend (ip + 
> port), and only one local address on nginx side, then you are 
> limited by the number of local ports nginx can use.  Theoretical 
> limit is 64k, practical one is usually smaller - on Linux systems 
> it depends on net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range.
> 
> Most natural solution is to add more backends.  Under normal 
> conditions you will add more backend servers as your system will 
> grow, so you'll never hit the problem in the first place.  If you 
> need to handle more than 64k connections to a single backend 
> server, consider listening on multiple addresses in your backend 
> application (e.g., listening on multiple ports).
> 
> Other available solutions are:
> 
> - use UNIX domain sockets (this works when you have everything on 
>   a single host);
> 
> - add more local addresses on nginx side and use proxy_bind to 
>   balance users between these addresses.
> 
+
https://www.nginx.com/blog/overcoming-ephemeral-port-exhaustion-nginx-plus/

-- 
Maxim Konovalov