Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cybersecurity

    Nginx Plus r4 Improves Web Server Security

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    July 24, 2014
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      security

      Nginx, the lead commercial sponsor behind the open-source Nginx Web server, is out today with a new release of its Nginx Plus server. The Nginx Plus r4 release provides users with new security and load balancing features.

      Nginx Plus is the commercially supported enterprise release of the widely deployed open-source Nginx Web server. According to the June 2014 Netcraft Web Server Survey, Nginx is powering 134 million sites around the world. The first Nginx Plus release debuted back in August 2013, providing users with additional high-availability features on top of the open-source base. New versions of Nginx Plus are now released every three months. The Nginx Plus r4 release is based on the open-source Nginx 1.7.3 release, which was released on July 8.

      Among the new features of Nginx Plus r4 is something that company is describing as an end-to-end Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) capability. SSL is widely used as the mechanism by which data is safely encrypted and transported across the Web.

      Owen Garrett, head of products at Nginx, explained that the new release now enables validation of SSL certificates against an internal list of SSL certificate authorities (CAs). CAs are supposed to be the trusted authorities that are able to issue, sign and revoke SSL certificates.

      Garrett explained that the new SSL validation feature is used when Nginx Plus forwards traffic to an external API server, or to another Web server over HTTPS.

      “There’s generally a well-defined set of servers (specified in the Nginx configuration) that it talks to, rather than the Internet at large,” Garrett said. “The purpose of the feature is to verify that the server defined in the configuration matches the certificate authority specified in the configuration.”

      The Nginx Plus r4 release also provides new load balancing enhancements, including a generic learn method for session persistence.

      “Nginx Plus can learn when servers establish sessions, and can then identify when clients send requests in those sessions,” Garrett said.

      Garrett explained that by its nature, session persistence tends to be an all-or-nothing feature that fights against load balancing to control where traffic is routed, and this can create suboptimal performance if not configured correctly.

      “This new learn method has two benefits—it does not need to modify traffic by inserting cookies, and it can be a lot more intelligent in creating sessions,” he said.

      The open-source version of Nginx is often deployed with load-balancing and caching technologies including Varnish or Squid. Those technologies are not needed for Nginx Plus, which integrates caching and load balancing.

      “Our goal with Nginx Plus is to provide a single integrated solution that provides a combination of Web serving, caching and load balancing functionality so that customers can deploy simpler, more scalable application platforms without having to chain together a number of disparate solutions,” Garrett commented.

      Looking forward, there are a number of items on the roadmap for both the open-source Nginx and commercial Nginx Plus product lines. Gus Robertson, CEO of Nginx, told eWEEK that there are architectural improvements in development that will enable the Nginx code base to take advantage of maturing features in the Linux kernel.

      “This will be particularly useful to organizations serving or caching very large volumes of content,” Robertson said.

      Additionally, there is a plan for centralized management tools that will provide a focus for a richer and more informed Nginx user community. There is also a third-party module API in the works that will allow for dynamic loading of modules.

      “This will make it easier for Nginx users to keep up with Nginx development and run the most recent releases to take advantage of new features and other improvements,” Robertson said. “It will also make it easier for third-party developers to build and package Nginx extensions.”

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×