A web GUI for nginx
Manage nginx via web, not via SSH
Every setting that matters is a form with an explanation beside it. Failover LB writes the nginx config for you, checks it on every server in the cluster, and shows you exactly what it wrote before any of it goes live.
What you drive from the browser
This is not a status dashboard with a config file behind it. It is the config, as forms.
| In nginx you would write | Here you |
|---|---|
A server block, by hand, per site | Fill in a name, pick a pool, pick a certificate |
An upstream with weights and failure counts | Add backends to a pool and choose a method from a list |
location blocks, and hope you got the match order right | Add paths, and read the panel that tells you which one wins |
limit_req_zone up top, limit_req further down | Make a zone once, pick it on the sites that need it |
| Three directives and a map for WebSockets | One checkbox |
| certbot, a timer, and a renewal hook | Press the button and pick the site |
| A CORS header block you copied from somewhere | Tick the methods and list the origins |
nginx -t, then reload, then check the other server | Press Apply config. Every node validates before any node commits. |
The config is never hidden
Every site has an nginx config tab showing the exact block that will be written. You can read it, copy it, and check it before you apply. A management tool that will not show you its output is asking for a lot of trust it has not earned.
Why this is more than a form over a text file
Writing the config is the easy half. The half that goes wrong is everything around it.
- It is checked before it counts. A change is offered to every node, each one tests whether the resulting config is valid, and it only goes live if all of them agree. A typo cannot take the fleet down.
- It is the same on every server. No more fixing something on one box and finding out three weeks later that the other one never got it.
- It is reversible. Every applied version is kept, with who made it and what changed, and it goes back with one click.
- It is auditable. Who changed what, when, and from which address.
- It is delegatable. Somebody who does not know nginx can be given the operator role and safely put a site live, because the form will not let them write something invalid.
See it before you install it
There are thirty seven screenshots of the real thing, with the hostnames changed to placeholders and the addresses replaced with documentation ranges. Everything else on them is genuine: real counts, real health states, real certificate expiry dates.
Look through the screenshots, or read the first site guide to see the whole flow from empty pool to a working https site in about fifteen minutes.
You still get to keep what you know
Nothing here is trying to hide nginx from you. Site names map to server_name,
pools map to upstream, paths map to location, and the help text says
so. If you already know nginx, you will know where you are within a minute. If you do not, you
will learn it by reading what the form produced.
When the forms run out, there is an extra config box on every site and every path, and a mode where you write the whole server block yourself. Those go through the same validation as everything else.
Sites
One hostname and every rule that goes with it.
Read moreBackend pools
The list of servers behind a site, and how traffic is shared.
Read morePath routing
Send /api one way and everything else another.
Read moreThe JSON API
Everything the GUI does, available to a script.
Read moreTwo phase apply
Nothing goes live until every node says the config is valid.
Read moreChange history and rollback
Every apply kept, and put back with one click.
Read moreQuestions people ask
Can I really manage nginx via web without learning the config file?
Yes, for everything a normal site needs. Sites, upstreams, TLS, redirects, paths, rate limits, caching, compression, headers, WebSockets and the WAF all have forms with help text next to them. You are still welcome to read the config it writes, and there is a mode where you write a server block yourself, but you do not have to.
Does it overwrite nginx config I already have?
It manages its own config directory rather than editing files you wrote. There is an import screen that reads an existing config and shows you what each part would become before anything is created, so you can bring a setup across and check the result first.
What happens if the web GUI goes down?
nginx carries on serving traffic. The manager writes config and then gets out of the way, so it is not in the request path at all. A manager that is down means you cannot make changes. It does not mean your sites are down.
Can I still edit the config by hand?
Yes. Each site has a mode where you write the whole server block yourself, and each path has an extra config box for the one directive the forms do not cover. Anything you write goes through the same validation on every node before it can go live.
Is there an API as well as the web interface?
Yes. Everything the GUI does is available as JSON, because a GUI that cannot be scripted becomes the bottleneck the moment you have more than a few sites.
Stop editing config over SSH
Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, root access, and about twenty minutes. The installer does the rest and it is safe to run twice.