VIPTest: Rapid Application Testing for F5 Environments
VIPTest is a Python-based tool for efficiently testing multiple URLs in F5 environments, allowing quick assessment of application behavior before and after configuration changes. It supports concurrent processing, handles various URL formats, and provides detailed reports on HTTP responses, TLS versions, and connectivity status, making it useful for migrations and routine maintenance.
Issue with worker_connections limits in Nginx+
Hello Nginx Community, We are using Nginx+ for our Load Balancer and have encountered a problem where the current worker_connections limit is insufficient. I need our monitoring system to check the current value of worker_connections for each Nginx worker process to ensure that the active worker_connections are below the maximum allowed. The main issue is that I cannot determine the current number of connections for each Nginx worker process. In my test configuration, I set worker_connections to 28 (which is a small value used only for easily reproducing the issue). With 32 worker processes, the total capacity should be 32 * 28 = 896 connections. Using the /api/9/connections endpoint, we can see the total number of active connections: { "accepted": 2062055, "dropped": 4568, "active": 9, "idle": 28 } Despite the relatively low number of active connections, the log file continually reports that worker_connections are insufficient. Additionally, as of Nginx+ R30, there is an endpoint providing per-worker connection statistics (accepted, dropped, active, and idle connections, total and current requests). However, the reported values for active connections are much lower than 28: $ curl -s http://<some_ip>/api/9/workers | jq | grep active "active": 2, "active": 0, "active": 1, "active": 2, "active": 1, "active": 1, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 3, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 2, "active": 2, "active": 0, "active": 1, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 2, "active": 1, "active": 2, "active": 1, "active": 0, "active": 1, "active": 0, "active": 0, "active": 1, Could you please help us understand why the active connections are reported as lower than the limit, yet we receive logs indicating that worker_connections are not enough? Thank you for your assistance.
Nginx Reverse Proxy issue for port other than 81
I have a backend tomcat application which runs on port 8080 with IP 192.168.29.141. I am trying to reverse proxy using Nginx for which I have created the below configuration file: upstream tomcat{ server 192.168.29.141:8080; } server { #listen 192.168.122.28:80; listen 192.168.122.28:81; server_name tomcat; location / { proxy_pass http://tomcat; } } When I load the page on browser, the page is distorted and I get below error in Browser console: "Unsafe attempt to load URL http://tomcat/o/classic-theme/images/clay/icons.svg from frame with URL http://tomcat:81/. Domains, protocols and ports must match." But when I run the nginx on port 80 instead of port 81, everything works fine. Is there anything I am missing in configurations for port other than 80 ? My Nginx Server IP: 192.168.122.28 Browser screenshot when hit the URL as http://tomcat:81NGINX Virtual Machine Building with cloud-init
Traditionally, building new servers was a manual process. A system administrator had a run book with all the steps required and would perform each task one by one. If the admin had multiple servers to build the same steps were repeated over and over. All public cloud compute platforms provide an automation tool called cloud-init that makes it easy to automate configuration tasks while a new VM instance is being launched. In this article, you will learn how to automate the process of building out a new NGINX Plus server usingcloud-init.F5 XC vk8s workload with Open Source Nginx
I have shared the code in the link below under Devcentral code share: F5 XC vk8s open source nginx deployment on RE | DevCentral Here I will desribe the basic steps for creating a workload object that is F5 XC custom kubernetes object that creates in the background kubernetes deployments, pods and Cluster-IP type services. The free unprivileged nginx image nginxinc/docker-nginx-unprivileged: Unprivileged NGINX Dockerfiles (github.com) Create a virtual site that groups your Regional Edges and Customer Edges. After that create the vk8s virtual kubernetes and relate it to the virtual site."Note": Keep in mind for the limitations of kubernetes deployments on Regional Edges mentioned in Create Virtual K8s (vK8s) Object | F5 Distributed Cloud Tech Docs. First create the workload object and select type service that can be related to Regional Edge virtual site or Customer Edge virtual site. After select the container image that will be loaded from a public repository like github or private repo. You will need to configure advertise policy that will expose the pod/container with a kubernetes cluster-ip service. If you are deploying test containers, you will not need to advertise the container . To trigger commands at a container start, you may need to use /bin/bash -c -- and a argument."Note": This is not related for this workload deployment and it is just an example. Select to overwrite the default config file for the opensource nginx unprivileged with a file mount."Note": the volume name shouldn't have a dot as it will cause issues. For the image options select a repository with no rate limit as otherwise you will see the error under the the events for the pod. You can also configure command and parameters to push to the container that will run on boot up. You can use empty dir on the virtual kubernetes on the Regional Edges for volume mounts like the log directory or the Nginx Cache zone but the unprivileged Nginx by default exports the logs to the XC GUI, so there is no need. "Note": This is not related for this workload deployment and it is just an example. The Logs and events can be seen under the pod dashboard and even the container/pod can accessed. "Note": For some workloads to see the logs from the XC GUI you will need to direct the output to stderr but not for nginx. After that you can reference the auto created kubernetes Cluster-IP service in a origin pool, using the workload name and the XC namespace (for example niki-nginx.default). "Note": Use the same virtual-site where the workload was attached and the same port as in the advertise cluster config. Deployments and Cluster-IP services can be created directly without a workload but better use the workload option. When you modify the config of the nginx actually you are modifying a configmap that the XC workload has created in the background and mounted as volume in the deployment but you will need to trigger deployment recreation as of now not supported by the XC GUI. From the GUI you can scale the workload to 0 pod instances and then back to 1 but a better solution is to use kubectl. You can log into the virtual kubernetes like any other k8s environment using a cert and then you can run the command "kubectl rollout restart deployment/niki-nginx". Just download the SSL/TLS cert. You can automate the entire process using XC API and then you can use normal kubernetes automation to run the restart command F5 Distributed Cloud Services API for ves.io.schema.views.workload | F5 Distributed Cloud API Docs! F5 XC has added proxy_protocol support and now the nginx container can work directly with the real client ip addresses without XFF HTTP headers or non-http services like SMTP that nginx supports and this way XC now can act as layer 7 proxy for email/smpt traffic 😉. You just need to add "proxy_protocol" directive and to log the variable "$proxy_protocol_addr". Related resources: For nginx Plus deployments for advanced functions like SAML or OpenID Connect (OIDC) or the advanced functions of the Nginx Plus dynamic modules like njs that is allowing java scripting (similar to F5 BIG-IP or BIG-IP Next TCL based iRules), see: Enable SAML SP on F5 XC Application Bolt-on Auth with NGINX Plus and F5 Distributed Cloud Dynamic Modules | NGINX Documentation njs scripting language (nginx.org) Accepting the PROXY Protocol | NGINX DocumentationGlobal Live Webinar (08/28): Deploy NGINX Faster Than You Can Say Azure: NGINXaaS Azure
Deploy NGINX Faster Than You Can Say Azure: NGINXaaS for Azure Date: August 28, 2024 Time: 10:00am PT | 1:00pm ET Speakers: Gee Chow, Solutions Architect, F5 Sundar Tiwari, Sr. Product Manager, F5 What's the webinar about? NGINX as a Service is a fully hosted offering that is tightly integrated into the Azure ecosystem, making applications fast, efficient, and reliable with full lifecycle management of advanced NGINX traffic services. NGINXaaS for Azure, powered by NGINX Plus, eliminates the need to deploy and manage individual instances or clusters of NGINX, and removes the operational burden of managing machines and images. Unlocking all NGINX Plus use cases of API Gateway, load balancer, programmable ADC, and cache managed through various Azure management tools (portal, CLI, SDK, ARM, and Terraform). And NGINXaaS for Azure can scale to meet your business, technical, or security requirements as they develop. In this in-depth session, our experts will cover: Seamless Integration with the Azure Ecosystem: Discover how NGINX Plus integrates with essential Azure services such as Key Vault, Monitor, and Log Analytics, enhancing security and monitoring capabilities. Smooth Migration Path: Learn the steps to transition your existing NGINX configurations to NGINX as a Service for Azure without hassle. Continuous Innovation and Reliability: Understand how NGINXaaS for Azure ensures your instances remain cutting-edge and robust with automatic updates and built-in failover and service resiliency. Cost-Effective Strategies: Leverage your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) to make the most of NGINX as a Service for Azure. Join our knowledgeable presenters, Gee Chow, Solutions Architect at F5, and Sundar Tiwari, Sr. Product Manager at F5, for a session that promises to empower your Azure experience with NGINX Plus. Join our knowledgeable presenters, Gee Chow, Solutions Architect at F5, and Sundar Tiwari, Sr. Product Manager at F5, for a session that promises to empower your Azure experience with NGINX Plus. Register hereWhat is Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT)? How to secure MQTT?
MQTT is a messaging protocol broadly used in IoT and connected services, very lightweight and reliable even over poor quality networks. It is designed lightweight so it can work on constrained devices but, even in its latest version MQTTv5, the attack surface is very large.Announcing F5 NGINX Gateway Fabric 1.3.0 with Tracing, GRPCRoute, and Client Settings
The release of NGINX Gateway Fabric version 1.3.0, introduces plenty of highly requested features and improvements. GRPCRoutes are now supported to manage gRPC traffic, similar to the handling of HTTPRoute. The update includes new custom policies like ClientSettingsPolicy for client request configurations and ObservabilityPolicy for enabling application tracing with OpenTelemetry support. The GRPCRoute allows for efficient routing, header modifications, traffic weighting, and error conversion from HTTP to gRPC. We will explain how to set up NGINX Gateway Fabric to manage gRPC traffic using a Gateway and a GRPCRoute, providing a detailed example of the setup. It also outlines how to enable tracing through the NginxProxy resource and ObservabilityPolicy, emphasizing a selective approach to tracing to avoid data overload. Additionally, the ClientSettingsPolicy allows for the customization of NGINX directives at the Gateway or Route level, giving users control over certain NGINX behaviors with the possibility of overriding Gateway defaults at the Route level. Looking ahead, the NGINX Gateway Fabric team plans to work on TLS Passthrough, IPv6, and improvements to the testing suite, while preparing for larger updates like NGINX directive customization and separation of data and control planes. Check the end of the article to see how to get involved in the development process through GitHub and participate in bi-weekly community meetings. Further resources and links are also provided within.
