Step 5: Nginx

We now set up nginx to serve as a reverse proxy. This allows us to easily set up SSL certificates.

Setup Without SSL

We need to remove the default nginx config and add a new one for oTree. Let’s remove the old one first:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Then we create a new one using nano:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/otree

Copy in the following script:

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default   upgrade;
    ''        close;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name _;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header        Connection $connection_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
    }
}

Save the file and exit nano with [ctrl] + [s] and [ctrl] + [x].

Setup with SSL

We need to remove the default nginx config and add a new one for oTree. Let’s remove the old one first:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Then we create a new one using nano:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/otree

Copy in the following script:

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default   upgrade;
    ''        close;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name _;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name _;

    ssl_certificate PATH_TO_SSL_CERTIFICATE_PEM;
    ssl_certificate_key PATH_TO_SSL_KEY;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header        Connection $connection_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
    }
}

Make sure to replace PATH_TO_SSL_CERTIFICATE_PEM and PATH_TO_SSL_KEY with the appropriate paths to your SSL certificates. Finally, save the file and exit nano with [ctrl] + [s] and [ctrl] + [x].

This concludes Step 5.