Name

nginx_tcp_proxy_module - support TCP proxy with Nginx


Status

This module is at its very early phase of development and considered highly experimental. But you're encouraged to test it out on your side and report any quirks that you experience.

We need your help! If you find this module useful and/or interesting, please consider joining the development!


Synopsis

http {

    listen 80;
    location /status {
        check_status;
    }
}

tcp {

    upstream cluster {
        # simple round-robin
        server 127.0.0.1:3306;
        server 127.0.0.1:1234;
        check interval=3000 rise=2 fall=5 timeout=1000;
        #check interval=3000 rise=2 fall=5 timeout=1000 type=ssl_hello;
        #check interval=3000 rise=2 fall=5 timeout=1000 type=http;
        #check_http_send "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n";
        #check_http_expect_alive http_2xx http_3xx;
    }
    server {
        listen 8888;
        proxy_pass cluster;
    }
}


Description

This module actually include many modules: ngx_tcp_module, ngx_tcp_core_module, ngx_tcp_upstream_module, ngx_tcp_proxy_module, ngx_tcp_upstream_ip_hash_module. All these modules work togther to add the support of TCP proxy with Nginx. I also add other features: ip_hash, upstream server health check, status monitor.

The motivation of writing these modules is Nginx's high performance and robustness.


Directives

ngx_tcp_moodule

tcp

syntax: tcp {...}

default: none

context: main

description: All the tcp related directives are contained in the tcp block.

ngx_tcp_core_moodule

server

syntax: server {...}

default: none

context: tcp

description: All the specific server directives are contained in the server block.

listen

syntax: listen address:port [ bind ]

default: none

context: server

description: The same as listen (http://wiki.nginx.org/NginxMailCoreModule#listen).

allow

syntax: allow [ address | CIDR | all ]

default: none

context: server

description: Directive grants access for the network or addresses indicated.

deny

syntax: deny [ address | CIDR | all ]

default: none

context: server

description: Directive grants access for the network or addresses indicated.

so_keepalive

syntax: so_keepalive on|off

default: off

context: main, server

description: The same as so_keepalive (http://wiki.nginx.org/NginxMailCoreModule#so_keepalive).

tcp_nodelay

syntax: tcp_nodelay on|off

default: on

context: main, server

description: The same as tcp_nodelay (http://wiki.nginx.org/NginxHttpCoreModule#tcp_nodelay).

timeout

syntax: timeout milliseconds

default: 60000

context: main, server

description: set the timeout value with clients.

server_name

syntax: server_name name fqdn_server_host

default: The name of the host, obtained through gethostname()

context: tcp, server

description: The same as server_name (http://wiki.nginx.org/NginxMailCoreModule#server_name).

resolver

syntax: resolver address

default: none

context: tcp, server

description: DNS server

resolver_timeout

syntax: resolver_timeout time

default: 30s

context: tcp, server

description: Resolver timeout in seconds.

ngx_tcp_upstream_module

upstream

syntax: upstream {...}

default: none

context: tcp

description: All the upstream directives are contained in this block. The upstream server will be dispatched with round robin by default.

server

syntax: server name [parameters]

default: none

context: upstream

description: Most of the parameters are the same as server (http://wiki.nginx.org/NginxHttpUpstreamModule#server). Default port is 80.

check

syntax: check interval=milliseconds [fall=count] [rise=count] [timeout=milliseconds] [type=tcp|ssl_hello|smtp|mysql|pop3|imap]

default: none, if parameters omitted, default parameters are interval=30000 fall=5 rise=2 timeout=1000

context: upstream

description: Add the health check for the upstream servers. At present, the check method is a simple tcp connect.

The parameters' meanings are:

check_http_send

syntax: check_http_send http_packet

default: "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n"

context: upstream

description: If you set the check type is http, then the check function will sends this http packet to check the upstream server.

check_http_expect_alive

syntax: check_http_expect_alive [ http_2xx | http_3xx | http_4xx | http_5xx ]

default: http_2xx | http_3xx

context: upstream

description: These status codes indicate the upstream server's http response is ok, the backend is alive.

check_smtp_send

syntax: check_smtp_send smtp_packet

default: "HELO smtp.localdomain\r\n"

context: upstream

description: If you set the check type is smtp, then the check function will sends this smtp packet to check the upstream server.

check_smtp_expect_alive

syntax: check_smtp_expect_alive [smtp_2xx | smtp_3xx | smtp_4xx | smtp_5xx]

default: smtp_2xx

context: upstream

description: These status codes indicate the upstream server's smtp response is ok, the backend is alive.

check_shm_size

syntax: check_shm_size size

default: (number_of_checked_upstream_blocks + 1) * pagesize

context: tcp

description: If you store hundreds of serveres in one upstream block, the shared memory for health check may be not enough, you can enlarged it by this directive.

check_status

syntax: check_status

default: none

context: location

description: Display the health checking servers' status by HTTP. This directive is set in the http block.

ngx_tcp_upstream_ip_hash_module

ip_hash

syntax: ip_hash

default: none

context: upstream

description: the upstream server will be dispatched by ip_hash.

ngx_tcp_proxy_module

proxy_pass

syntax: proxy_pass host:port

default: none

context: server

description: proxy the request to the backend server. Default port is 80.

proxy_buffer

syntax: proxy_buffer size

default: 4k

context: tcp, server

description: set the size of proxy buffer.

proxy_connect_timeout

syntax: proxy_connect_timeout miliseconds

default: 60000

context: tcp, server

description: set the timeout value of connection to backends.

proxy_read_timeout

syntax: proxy_read_timeout miliseconds

default: 60000

context: tcp, server

description: set the timeout value of reading from backends.

proxy_write_timeout

syntax: proxy_write_timeout miliseconds

default: 60000

context: tcp, server

description: set the timeout value of writing to backends.


Installation

Download the latest version of the release tarball of this module from github (http://github.com/yaoweibin/nginx_tcp_proxy_module)

Grab the nginx source code from nginx.org (http://nginx.org/), for example, the version 0.7.65 (see nginx compatibility), and then build the source with this module:

    $ wget 'http://nginx.org/download/nginx-0.7.65.tar.gz'
    $ tar -xzvf nginx-0.7.65.tar.gz
    $ cd nginx-0.7.65/
    $ patch -p1 < /path/to/nginx_tcp_proxy_module/tcp.patch
    $ ./configure --add-module=/path/to/nginx_tcp_proxy_module
    $ make
    $ make install


Compatibility


Notes

The http_response_parse.rl and smtp_response_parse.rl are ragel (http://www.complang.org/ragel/) scripts , you can edit the script and compile it like this:

    $ ragel -G2 http_response_parse.rl
    $ ragel -G2 smtp_response_parse.rl


TODO


Known Issues


Changelogs

v0.19

v0.1


Authors

Weibin Yao(姚伟斌) yaoweibin at gmail dot com


Copyright & License

This README template copy from agentzh (http://github.com/agentzh).

I borrowed a lot of code from upstream and mail module from the nginx 0.7.* core. This part of code is copyrighted by Igor Sysoev. And the health check part is borrowed the design of Jack Lindamood's healthcheck module healthcheck_nginx_upstreams (http://github.com/cep21/healthcheck_nginx_upstreams);

This module is licensed under the BSD license.

Copyright (C) 2010 by Weibin Yao <yaoweibin@gmail.com>.

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.