layout: true class: inverse, large --- class: special, middle # (Proxy) Web Server Choices and Configuration Introduction to NGINX (and Apache) slides by @natefoo .footnote[\#usegalaxy / @galaxyproject] --- # Reverse Proxy What is a reverse proxy? - Sits between the client and Galaxy Extra features: - Serve static content - Compress selected content - Serve over HTTPS - Serve byte range requests - Serve other sites from the same server - Can provide authentication - Will be covered on Tuesday: _Using and configuring external authentication services_ Some of these features are available directly in uWSGI (covered Tuesday) --- # Apache - The most popular web server - Many authentication plugins written for Apache - Can offload file downloads --- # nginx - Designed specifically to be a load balancing reverse proxy - Widely used by large sites (third most popular web server) - Can offload both uploads and downloads I recommend nginx unless you have a specific need for Apache --- # nginx "flavors" nginx plugins must be compiled in^[1] Debian/Ubuntu provide multiple nginx "flavors": - `nginx-light`: minimal set of core modules - `nginx-full`: full set of core modules - `nginx-extras`: full set of core modules and extras (3rd party modules) There is also a "Galaxy" flavor^[2] (includes [upload module](https://github.com/vkholodkov/nginx-upload-module)): - [RHEL](https://depot.galaxyproject.org/yum/) (derived from EPEL nginx) - [Ubuntu PPA](https://launchpad.net/~galaxyproject/+archive/ubuntu/nginx) .footnote[^[1] Dynamic shared objects were [introduced in 1.9.11](https://www.nginx.com/blog/dynamic-modules-nginx-1-9-11/) ^[2] Still working on the automation to keep this up to date, though] --- # Exercise: nginx [nginx as a Reverse Proxy for Galaxy - Exercise](https://github.com/gvlproject/dagobah-training/blob/master/sessions/03-production-basics/ex3-nginx.md) --- # Exercise: Apache [Apache as a Reverse Proxy for Galaxy - Exercise](https://github.com/gvlproject/dagobah-training/blob/master/sessions/03-production-basics/ex4-apache.md) --- # Additional Tips and Resources [Google's PageSpeed Tools](https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/) can identify any compression or caching improvements you can make. If configuring SSL (out of scope for this training), out-of-the-box SSL settings are often insecure! Use the [Qualys SSL Server Test](https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html) to check --- # uWSGI Galaxy comes with a pure-python web server, [Paste](http://pythonpaste.org/) Why switch to uWSGI? - Built in multiprocess (avoid the GIL) - Built in load balancing - Better performance - Greater scalability - Hundreds of other features (see [docs](http://uwsgi-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)) Covered: Tuesday: _Improving the web serving experience with uWSGI_ uWSGI will become the default: Watch [Galaxy Pull Request #2802](https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy/pull/2802), [Starforge Pull Request #118](https://github.com/galaxyproject/starforge/pull/118)