Let us take a closer look at the server management nginx add_header. Our Server management support services at Bobcares will give you a detailed note on the entire process.

Nginx add_header directive and Server management

The Nginx add header directive will give an arbitrary response header and includes a value that will all responses with the following codes: 200, 201, 204, 206, 301, 302, 303, 304, or 307. The following code snippet can define in the nginx.conf file.

add_header Custom-Header Value;

The Custom-Header element relates to the response header’s name, while the Data section refers to the value we want the header to deliver. This directive may be specified in an HTTP, server, or location block. Now let’s move ahead to server management nginx add_header.

How to check if the header is active?

Save the modifications and reload the Nginx configuration after specifying a custom header in the Nginx configuration file using the following command.

service nginx reload

The custom header should now be active and supplied as a response header. There are a few ways to ensure that the Nginx add header is accurate for server management nginx add_header.

The first method is to use Chrome DevTools to inspect the response headers. Simply open Chrome DevTools and navigate to the Network panel to accomplish this. Check the Response Headers section of the HTML document to ensure the setup of the custom header.

In addition, we can use curl to see if the execution of the custom header. For a list of methods to utilize curl, look at some popular curl examples. Use the following command to inspect the headers of a certain URL.

curl -I https://www.keycdn.com
HTTP/2 200
server: keycdn-engine
date: Mon, 05 Sep 2022 11:32:48 GMT
content-type: text/html
vary: Accept-Encoding
last-modified: Mon, 05 Sept 2022 11:32:48 GMT
etag: W/"5e60e566-13e3b"
expires: Sun, 22 Sep 2022 18:53:48 GMT
cache-control: max-age=604800
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains; preload
content-security-policy: default-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' https: data:
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
x-content-type-options: nosniff
referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade
x-cache: HIT x-edge-location: ussf
access-control-allow-origin: *

Why set up custom headers?

Before getting into server management nginx add_header we have to know why to add custom headers. We can use Custom headers for information and debugging.

WordPress, for example, contains a header such as X-Powered-By: PHP/5.5.9-1ubuntu4.17 to identify the version of PHP and Ubuntu on the server.

Using a CDN, we may also see response headers like X-Cache: HIT or X-Cache: MISS. These custom headers are used to alert the client as to whether or not the asset was delivered by the cache.

We can additionally specify which headers should be utilized for which files or folders. For example, if we don’t want to cache a specific file, we may use a location block to specify the file’s path and the add header snippet below.

add_header Cache-Control no-cache;

This instructs the browser not to cache the specific asset(s) stored at the specified location.

What to be aware of when using Nginx add_header#

It is vital to comprehend how the Nginx add header functions within the context of the hierarchical Nginx configuration structure for server management nginx add_header.

According to the specification for the Nginx HTTP Headers Module, there could be many add header directives. If there are no add header directives declared on the current level, these directives are inherited from the previous level.

As a result, we can say that there is a http block with the add header directive given within it. The http block then has two server blocks, one for HTTP and one for HTTPS.

If an add header directive is not included in the HTTP server block, an additional add header directive is included in the HTTPS server block.

As there is no add header directive set on the current level, the add header directive defined in the http block will only be inherited by the HTTP server block in this scenario.

The HTTPS server block, on the other hand, will not inherit the add header directive defined in the http block.

When altering their Nginx configuration, server administrators should keep this in mind. There are workarounds, such as utilizing an alternate module like ngx headers more or defining a shared configuration snippet.

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Conclusion

To conclude we have learned more about the server management nginx add_header and how to check its activation stage and why setting it up is important with our Server management support Services.