Configuring NGINX for Monitoring

To collect detailed metrics, NGINX needs to be configured with the stub_status module enabled. This page explains the recommended configuration.

Enabling stub_status

Add the following location block to your NGINX configuration:

server {
    listen 127.0.0.1:80;
    server_name localhost;

    location /nginx_status {
        stub_status on;
        allow 127.0.0.1;
        deny all;
    }
}

Then reload NGINX:

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Enabling Access Log Metrics

For detailed request metrics, configure a custom log format:

log_format amplify '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] '
                    '"$request" $status $body_bytes_sent '
                    '"$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" '
                    '$request_time $upstream_response_time';

Apply it to your access log:

access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log amplify;

NGINX Plus Configuration

For NGINX Plus, enable the API endpoint:

server {
    listen 127.0.0.1:8080;

    location /api {
        api write=off;
        allow 127.0.0.1;
        deny all;
    }
}