Domain Management Guide

This comprehensive guide covers all aspects of domain management in the Nginx WAF Management Platform, including adding domains, configuring upstream servers, load balancing, and advanced domain configurations.

Overview

The domain management system allows you to:

• Add and configure multiple domains
• Set up load balancing with multiple upstream servers
• Configure health checks and failover
• Manage SSL certificates for each domain
• Enable ModSecurity WAF protection
• Monitor domain performance and availability

Domain Management Interface

Access the domain management by clicking Domains in the sidebar navigation:

The interface provides:

• Domain List: Overview of all configured domains
• Status Indicators: Visual indicators for domain health
• Quick Actions: Common tasks for each domain
• Search and Filter: Find specific domains quickly

Adding a New Domain

Basic Domain Configuration

1. Click the Add Domain button
2. Fill in the basic domain information:

Required Fields:

• Domain Name: The domain name (e.g., example.com, api.example.com)
• Upstream Servers: At least one backend server

Optional Settings:

• Status: Active or Inactive
• SSL Enabled: Enable/disable SSL for this domain
• ModSecurity Enabled: Enable/disable WAF protection

Domain Name Configuration

When entering a domain name, follow these guidelines:

• Valid Characters: Letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), hyphens (-)
• Cannot Start/End: Cannot start or end with a hyphen
• Subdomains: Use dot notation for subdomains (e.g., api.example.com)

Examples of Valid Domain Names:

example.com
api.example.com
www.example.com
my-app.example.org

Upstream Server Configuration

Upstream servers are the backend servers that handle the actual requests. Each domain must have at least one upstream server configured.

Adding Upstream Servers

For each upstream server, configure the following:

Basic Configuration

• Host: IP address or hostname of the backend server
• Port: Port number (1-65535)
• Protocol: HTTP or HTTPS
• Weight: Load balancing weight (default: 1)
• Max Fails: Maximum failed attempts before marking as down (default: 3)
• Fail Timeout: Timeout in seconds before retrying (default: 10)

Advanced Configuration

• SSL Verify: Verify SSL certificates for HTTPS backends
• Backup: Mark server as backup (only used when all primary servers are down)
• Down: Manually mark server as down for maintenance

Upstream Server Examples

Single Backend Server

Host: 192.168.1.100
Port: 8080
Protocol: HTTP
Weight: 1
Max Fails: 3
Fail Timeout: 10
SSL Verify: OFF

Multiple Backend Servers (Load Balancing)

Server 1:
  Host: 192.168.1.100
  Port: 8080
  Weight: 3
  
Server 2:
  Host: 192.168.1.101
  Port: 8080
  Weight: 2
  
Server 3:
  Host: 192.168.1.102
  Port: 8080
  Weight: 1

HTTPS Backend with SSL Verification

Host: api.backend.com
Port: 443
Protocol: HTTPS
Weight: 1
SSL Verify: OFF

Load Balancing Configuration

The platform supports multiple load balancing algorithms to distribute traffic across upstream servers.

Load Balancing Algorithms

Round Robin (Default)

Requests are distributed evenly across all available servers.

upstream backend {
    server 192.168.1.100:8080 weight=1;
    server 192.168.1.101:8080 weight=1;
}

Least Connections

Requests are sent to the server with the fewest active connections.

upstream backend {
    least_conn;
    server 192.168.1.100:8080 weight=1;
    server 192.168.1.101:8080 weight=1;
}

IP Hash

Client IP address is used to determine which server receives the request, ensuring session persistence.

upstream backend {
    ip_hash;
    server 192.168.1.100:8080;
    server 192.168.1.101:8080;
}

Configuring Load Balancing

1. Select your domain from the list
2. Click the Load Balancer tab
3. Choose the appropriate algorithm
4. Configure health check settings

Health Check Configuration

Health checks ensure that only healthy backend servers receive traffic.

Health Check Settings

• Enabled: Enable/disable health checks
• Interval: Check interval in seconds (default: 30)
• Timeout: Request timeout in seconds (default: 5)
• Path: Health check endpoint path (default: /)
• Success Criteria: HTTP status codes considered healthy (default: 200, 204)

Health Check Example

Enabled: Yes
Interval: 30 seconds
Timeout: 5 seconds
Path: /health
Success Criteria: 200, 204

Domain Operations

Editing a Domain

1. Select the domain from the list
2. Click the Edit button
3. Make your changes
4. Click Save to apply changes

Toggling Domain Status

Quickly enable or disable a domain:

1. Select the domain from the list
2. Click the Toggle Status button
3. Confirm the action

Deleting a Domain

⚠️ Warning: Deleting a domain will remove all configuration and cannot be undone.

1. Select the domain from the list
2. Click the Delete button
3. Confirm the deletion

Reloading Nginx Configuration

After making changes to domain configuration, you may need to reload Nginx:

1. Click the Reload Nginx button in the domain list
2. Or use the system-wide reload in System settings

API Integration

For programmatic domain management, use the REST API:

List Domains

curl -X GET http://localhost:3001/api/domains \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Create Domain

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/domains \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "api.example.com",
    "status": "active",
    "upstreams": [
      {
        "host": "192.168.1.100",
        "port": 8080,
        "weight": 1
      }
    ]
  }'

Update Domain

curl -X PUT http://localhost:3001/api/domains/DOMAIN_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "status": "active",
    "upstreams": [
      {
        "host": "192.168.1.100",
        "port": 8080,
        "weight": 2
      }
    ]
  }'

Delete Domain

curl -X DELETE http://localhost:3001/api/domains/DOMAIN_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

For complete API documentation, see the API Reference.

For more information on related topics:

• SSL Certificate Management
• ModSecurity WAF Configuration
• Performance Monitoring
• Log Analysis