Dokku uses nginx as its server for routing requests to specific applications. By default, access and error logs are written for each app to `/var/log/nginx/${APP}-access.log` and `/var/log/nginx/${APP}-error.log` respectively
By default, nginx will listen to all interfaces (`[::]` for IPv6, `0.0.0.0` for IPv4) when proxying requests to applications. This may be changed using the `bind-address-ipv4` and `bind-address-ipv6` properties. This is useful in cases where the proxying should be internal to a network or if there are multiple network interfaces that should respond with different content.
This may be reverted by setting an empty bind address.
```shell
dokku nginx:set node-js-app bind-address-ipv4
dokku nginx:set node-js-app bind-address-ipv6
```
> Warning: Validation is not performed on either value.
Users with apps that contain a custom `nginx.conf.sigil` file will need to modify the files to respect the new `NGINX_BIND_ADDRESS_IPV4` and `NGINX_BIND_ADDRESS_IPV6` variables.
If SSL certificates are present, HSTS will be automatically enabled. It can be toggled via `nginx:set`:
```shell
dokku nginx:set node-js-app hsts true
dokku nginx:set node-js-app hsts false
```
The following options are also available via the `nginx:set` command:
-`hsts` (type: boolean, default: `true`): Enables or disables HSTS for your application.
-`hsts-include-subdomains` (type: boolean, default: `true`): Tells the browser that the HSTS policy also applies to all subdomains of the current domain.
-`hsts-max-age` (type: integer, default: `15724800`): Time in seconds to cache HSTS configuration.
-`hsts-preload` (type: boolean, default: `false`): Tells most major web browsers to include the domain in their HSTS preload lists.
Beware that if you enable the header and a subsequent deploy of your application results in an HTTP deploy (for whatever reason), the way the header works means that a browser will not attempt to request the HTTP version of your site if the HTTPS version fails until the max-age is reached.
You may check nginx access logs via the `nginx:access-logs` command. This assumes that app access logs are being stored in `/var/log/nginx/$APP-access.log`, as is the default in the generated `nginx.conf`.
```shell
dokku nginx:access-logs node-js-app
```
You may also follow the logs by specifying the `-t` flag.
```shell
dokku nginx:access-logs node-js-app -t
```
## Checking error logs
You may check nginx error logs via the `nginx:access-logs` command. This assumes that app error logs are being stored in `/var/log/nginx/$APP-error.log`, as is the default in the generated `nginx.conf`.
```shell
dokku nginx:error-logs node-js-app
```
You may also follow the logs by specifying the `-t` flag.
```shell
dokku nginx:error-logs node-js-app -t
```
## Regenerating nginx config
In certain cases, your app nginx configs may drift from the correct config for your app. You may regenerate the config at any point via the `nginx:build-config` command. This may fail if there are no current web listeners for your app.
It may be desired to validate an nginx config outside of the deployment process. To do so, run the `nginx:validate-config` command. With no arguments, this will validate all app nginx configs, one at a time. A minimal wrapper nginx config is generated for each app's nginx config, upon which `nginx -t` will be run.
As app nginx configs are actually executed within a shared context, it is possible for an individual config to be invalid when being validated standalone but _also_ be valid within the global server context. As such, the exit code for the `nginx:validate-config` command is the exit code of `nginx -t` against the server's real nginx config.
Dokku uses a templating library by the name of [sigil](https://github.com/gliderlabs/sigil) to generate nginx configuration for each app. You may also provide a custom template for your application as follows:
> When using a custom `nginx.conf.sigil` file, depending upon your application configuration, you *may* be exposing the file externally. As this file is extracted before the container is run, you can, safely delete it in a custom `entrypoint.sh` configured in a Dockerfile `ENTRYPOINT`.
> The default template is available [here](https://github.com/dokku/dokku/blob/master/plugins/nginx-vhosts/templates/nginx.conf.sigil), and can be used as a guide for your own, custom `nginx.conf.sigil` file. Please refer to the appropriate template file version for your Dokku version.
### Available template variables
```
{{ .APP }} Application name
{{ .APP_SSL_PATH }} Path to SSL certificate and key
{{ .DOKKU_ROOT }} Global Dokku root directory (ex: app dir would be `{{ .DOKKU_ROOT }}/{{ .APP }}`)
{{ .DOKKU_APP_LISTENERS }} List of IP:PORT pairs of app containers
{{ .PROXY_PORT_MAP }} List of port mappings (same as `DOKKU_PROXY_PORT_MAP` config var)
{{ .PROXY_UPSTREAM_PORTS }} List of configured upstream ports (derived from `DOKKU_PROXY_PORT_MAP` config var)
{{ .RAW_TCP_PORTS }} List of exposed tcp ports as defined by Dockerfile `EXPOSE` directive (**Dockerfile apps only**)
{{ .SSL_INUSE }} Boolean set when an app is SSL-enabled
{{ .SSL_SERVER_NAME }} List of SSL VHOSTS
```
> Note: Application config variables are available for use in custom templates. To do so, use the form of `{{ var "FOO" }}` to access a variable named `FOO`.
The example above uses additional configuration files directly on the Dokku host. Unlike the `nginx.conf.sigil` file, these additional files will not be copied over from your application repo, and thus need to be placed in the `/home/dokku/node-js-app/nginx.conf.d/` directory manually.
For PHP Buildpack users, you will also need to provide a `Procfile` and an accompanying `nginx.conf` file to customize the nginx config *within* the container. The following are example contents for your `Procfile`
By default, Dokku provides custom error pages for the following three categories of errors:
- 4xx: For all non-404 errors with a 4xx response code.
- 404: For "404 Not Found" errors.
- 5xx: For all 5xx error responses
These are provided as an alternative to the generic Nginx error page, are shared for _all_ applications, and their contents are located on disk at `/var/lib/dokku/data/nginx-vhosts/dokku-errors`. To customize them for a specific app, create a custom `nginx.conf.sigil` as described above and change the paths to point elsewhere.