NGINX Workers

This playbook provisions NetActuate virtual servers and configures them as NGINX worker nodes. Use this as a base for deploying web servers, reverse proxies, or load balancer backends.

Provisioning Playbook

Create the worker servers on NetActuate:

---
- hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  gather_facts: false

  vars:
    api_key: "{{ lookup('env', 'NETACTUATE_API_KEY') }}"
    worker_count: 3
    worker_plan: "VR2048x2x40"
    worker_image: "ubuntu-24.04"
    worker_locations:
      - ashburn
      - losangeles
      - amsterdam

  tasks:
    - name: Create NGINX worker servers
      netactuate.cloud.server:
        api_key: "{{ api_key }}"
        hostname: "nginx-worker-{{ item }}"
        plan: "{{ worker_plan }}"
        location: "{{ worker_locations[item | int % worker_locations | length] }}"
        image: "{{ worker_image }}"
        state: present
      loop: "{{ range(0, worker_count) | list }}"
      register: workers

    - name: Add workers to in-memory inventory
      add_host:
        name: "{{ item.ip_address }}"
        groups: nginx_workers
      loop: "{{ workers.results }}"

Configuration Playbook

Install and configure NGINX on the provisioned workers:

---
- hosts: nginx_workers
  become: true
  gather_facts: true

  vars:
    nginx_worker_processes: "auto"
    nginx_worker_connections: 1024

  tasks:
    - name: Install NGINX
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present
        update_cache: true

    - name: Configure NGINX
      copy:
        dest: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
        content: |
          user www-data;
          worker_processes {{ nginx_worker_processes }};
          pid /run/nginx.pid;

          events {
              worker_connections {{ nginx_worker_connections }};
              multi_accept on;
          }

          http {
              sendfile on;
              tcp_nopush on;
              tcp_nodelay on;
              keepalive_timeout 65;
              types_hash_max_size 2048;

              include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
              default_type application/octet-stream;

              access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
              error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

              gzip on;
              gzip_vary on;
              gzip_proxied any;
              gzip_comp_level 6;
              gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml;

              include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
              include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
          }
      notify: Restart NGINX

    - name: Create default site configuration
      copy:
        dest: /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
        content: |
          server {
              listen 80 default_server;
              listen [::]:80 default_server;

              root /var/www/html;
              index index.html;

              server_name _;

              location / {
                  try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
              }

              location /health {
                  access_log off;
                  return 200 "OK\n";
                  add_header Content-Type text/plain;
              }
          }
      notify: Restart NGINX

    - name: Enable default site
      file:
        src: /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
        dest: /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
        state: link

    - name: Start and enable NGINX
      systemd:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: true

  handlers:
    - name: Restart NGINX
      systemd:
        name: nginx
        state: restarted

Running the Playbooks

Run provisioning and configuration together:

ansible-playbook provision-nginx-workers.yml
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini configure-nginx-workers.yml

Or combine them into a single playbook with both plays.

Customization

• Adjust worker_count and worker_locations to match your deployment needs.
• Modify the NGINX configuration template for your application requirements.
• Add SSL configuration using the Add-On Playbooks.

Need Help?

If you need assistance deploying NGINX workers, visit our support page.