customization

Customization of NGINX Configuration

You can customize the NGINX configuration using ConfigMaps or Annotations.

The table below summarizes all of the options. For some of them, there are examples in the examples folder.

Note: The annotations that start with nginx.com are only supported with NGINX Plus Ingress controller.

Annotation	ConfigMaps Key	Description	Default	Example
kubernetes.io/ingress.class	N/A	Specifies which Ingress controller must handle the Ingress resource. Set to nginx to make NGINX Ingress controller handle it.	N/A	Multiple Ingress controllers.
nginx.org/proxy-connect-timeout	proxy-connect-timeout	Sets the value of the proxy_connect_timeout and grpc_connect_timeout directive.	60s
nginx.org/proxy-read-timeout	proxy-read-timeout	Sets the value of the proxy_read_timeout and grpc_read_timeout directive.	60s
nginx.org/client-max-body-size	client-max-body-size	Sets the value of the client_max_body_size directive.	1m
nginx.org/proxy-buffering	proxy-buffering	Enables or disables buffering of responses from the proxied server.	True
nginx.org/proxy-buffers	proxy-buffers	Sets the value of the proxy_buffers directive.	Depends on the platform.
nginx.org/proxy-buffer-size	proxy-buffer-size	Sets the value of the proxy_buffer_size and grpc_buffer_size directives.	Depends on the platform.
nginx.org/proxy-max-temp-file-size	proxy-max-temp-file-size	Sets the value of the proxy_max_temp_file_size directive.	1024m
nginx.org/proxy-hide-headers	proxy-hide-headers	Sets the value of one or more proxy_hide_header directives. Example: "nginx.org/proxy-hide-headers": "header-a,header-b"	N/A
nginx.org/proxy-pass-headers	proxy-pass-headers	Sets the value of one or more proxy_pass_header directives. Example: "nginx.org/proxy-pass-headers": "header-a,header-b"	N/A
N/A	server-names-hash-bucket-size	Sets the value of the server_names_hash_bucket_size directive.	Depends on the size of the processor’s cache line.
N/A	server-names-hash-max-size	Sets the value of the server_names_hash_max_size directive.	512
N/A	http2	Enables HTTP/2 in servers with SSL enabled.	False
nginx.org/redirect-to-https	redirect-to-https	Sets the 301 redirect rule based on the value of the http_x_forwarded_proto header on the server block to force incoming traffic to be over HTTPS. Useful when terminating SSL in a load balancer in front of the Ingress controller — see 115	False
ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect	ssl-redirect	Sets an unconditional 301 redirect rule for all incoming HTTP traffic to force incoming traffic over HTTPS.	True
N/A	log-format	Sets the custom log format.	See the template file.
nginx.org/hsts	hsts	Enables HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS): the HSTS header is added to the responses from backends. The preload directive is included in the header.	False
nginx.org/hsts-max-age	hsts-max-age	Sets the value of the max-age directive of the HSTS header.	2592000 (1 month)
nginx.org/hsts-include-subdomains	hsts-include-subdomains	Adds the includeSubDomains directive to the HSTS header.	False
N/A	ssl-protocols	Sets the value of the ssl_protocols directive.	TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2
N/A	ssl-prefer-server-ciphers	Enables or disables the ssl_prefer_server_ciphers directive.	False
N/A	ssl-ciphers	Sets the value of the ssl_ciphers directive.	HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5
N/A	ssl-dhparam-file	Sets the content of the dhparam file. The controller will create the file and set the value of the ssl_dhparam directive with the path of the file.	N/A
N/A	set-real-ip-from	Sets the value of the set_real_ip_from directive.	N/A
N/A	real-ip-header	Sets the value of the real_ip_header directive.	X-Real-IP
N/A	real-ip-recursive	Enables or disables the real_ip_recursive directive.	False
nginx.org/server-tokens	server-tokens	Enables or disables the server_tokens directive. Additionally, with the NGINX Plus, you can specify a custom string value, including the empty string value, which disables the emission of the “Server” field.	True
N/A	main-snippets	Sets a custom snippet in main context.	N/A
N/A	http-snippets	Sets a custom snippet in http context.	N/A
nginx.org/location-snippets	location-snippets	Sets a custom snippet in location context.	N/A
nginx.org/server-snippets	server-snippets	Sets a custom snippet in server context.	N/A
nginx.org/lb-method	lb-method	Sets the load balancing method. To use the round-robin method, specify "round_robin".	"least_conn"
nginx.org/listen-ports	N/A	Configures HTTP ports that NGINX will listen on.	[80]
nginx.org/listen-ports-ssl	N/A	Configures HTTPS ports that NGINX will listen on.	[443]
N/A	worker-processes	Sets the value of the worker_processes directive.	auto
N/A	worker-rlimit-nofile	Sets the value of the worker_rlimit_nofile directive.	N/A
N/A	worker-connections	Sets the value of the worker_connections directive.	1024
N/A	worker-cpu-affinity	Sets the value of the worker_cpu_affinity directive.	N/A
N/A	worker-shutdown-timeout	Sets the value of the worker_shutdown_timeout directive.	N/A
nginx.org/keepalive	keepalive	Sets the value of the keepalive directive. Note that proxy_set_header Connection ""; is added to the generated configuration when the value > 0.	0
N/A	proxy-protocol	Enables PROXY Protocol for incoming connections.	False	Proxy Protocol.
nginx.org/rewrites	N/A	Configures URI rewriting.	N/A	Rewrites Support.
nginx.org/ssl-services	N/A	Enables HTTPS when connecting to the endpoints of services.	N/A	SSL Services Support.
nginx.org/grpc-services	N/A	Enables gRPC for services.	N/A	GRPC Services Support.
nginx.org/websocket-services	N/A	Enables WebSocket for services.	N/A	WebSocket support.
nginx.org/max-fails	max-fails	Sets the value of the max_fails parameter of the server directive.	1
nginx.org/fail-timeout	fail-timeout	Sets the value of the fail_timeout parameter of the server directive.	10s
nginx.com/sticky-cookie-services	N/A	Configures session persistence.	N/A	Session Persistence.
nginx.com/jwt-key	N/A	Specifies a Secret resource with keys for validating JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).	N/A	Support for JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).
nginx.com/jwt-realm	N/A	Specifies a realm.	N/A	Support for JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).
nginx.com/jwt-token	N/A	Specifies a variable that contains JSON Web Token.	By default, a JWT is expected in the Authorization header as a Bearer Token.	Support for JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).
nginx.com/jwt-login-url	N/A	Specifies a URL to which a client is redirected in case of an invalid or missing JWT.	N/A	Support for JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).
nginx.com/health-checks	N/A	Enables active health checks.	False	Support for Active Health Checks.
nginx.com/health-checks-mandatory	N/A	Configures active health checks as mandatory.	False	Support for Active Health Checks.
nginx.com/health-checks-mandatory-queue	N/A	When active health checks are mandatory, configures a queue for temporary storing incoming requests during the time when NGINX Plus is checking the health of the endpoints after a configuration reload.	0	Support for Active Health Checks.
nginx.com/slow-start	N/A	Sets the upstream server slow-start period. By default, slow-start is activated after a server becomes available or healthy. To enable slow-start for newly added servers, configure mandatory active health checks.	"0s"

Using ConfigMaps

1. Make sure that you specify the configmaps resource to use when you start an Ingress controller. For example, -nginx-configmaps=default/nginx-config, where we specify the config map to use with the following format: <namespace>/<name>.

2. Create a configmaps file with the name nginx-config.yaml and set the values that make sense for your setup:

   kind: ConfigMap
   apiVersion: v1
   metadata:
     name: nginx-config
   data:
     proxy-connect-timeout: "10s"
     proxy-read-timeout: "10s"
     client-max-body-size: "2m"

   See the nginx-config.yaml from this directory for a complete example.

3. Create a configmaps resource:

   $ kubectl apply -f nginx-config.yaml
   

   The NGINX configuration will be updated.

4. If you want to update the configmaps, update the file and run the apply command again:

   $ kubectl apply -f nginx-config.yaml
   

   The NGINX configuration will be updated.

Using Annotations

If you want to customize the configuration for a particular Ingress resource only, you can use Annotations. Here is an example (cafe-ingress-with-annotations.yaml):

apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: cafe-ingress-with-annotations
  annotations:
    nginx.org/proxy-connect-timeout: "30s"
    nginx.org/proxy-read-timeout: "20s"
    nginx.org/client-max-body-size: "4m"
spec:
  rules:
  - host: cafe.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /tea
        backend:
          serviceName: tea-svc
          servicePort: 80
      - path: /coffee
        backend:
          serviceName: coffee-svc
          servicePort: 80

Annotations take precedence over ConfigMaps.