Nginx's architecture makes it great for handling high load. While Varnish was designed specifically for speed. Let's take a look at the possible configurations of Nginx and Varnish.

Possible Configurations

1. [View] Standalone Nginx (port 80)
2. [View] Varnish (80) caching for Nginx (8080)
3. [View] Nginx (80) for static, Varnish (6081) caching for Nginx (8080)
4. [View] Varnish (80) caching static content with Nginx (8080)
5. [View] NEW: Standalone Nginx (80) with FastCGI Caching
6. [View] NEW: Nginx using FastCGI with TCP/IP vs Unix Sockets

Base Configuration Files

There are four basic configuration files. For each configuration, only the changes to the base configuration are shown. First, use vi to open the Nginx config.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Copy and paste the following:

index app.php;
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    root /srv/www/example.com/web;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /app.php;
    }
    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri = 404;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
    }
}

Open the PHP-FPM config.

sudo vi /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Copy and paste the following:

pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 4
pm.start_servers = 1
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 2
pm.max_requests = 500
listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock

Open the Varnish daemon config.

sudo vi /etc/default/varnish

Copy and paste the following:

DAEMON_OPTS="-a :6081
  -T localhost:6082
  -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl
  -S /etc/varnish/secret
  -s malloc,256M"

Open the default Varnish VCL file.

sudo vi /etc/varnish/default.vcl

Copy and paste the following:

backend default {
    .host = "127.0.0.1";
    .port = "8080";
}
sub vcl_recv {
    unset req.http.cookie;
}
sub vcl_fetch {
    unset beresp.http.set-cookie;
}

Config 1. Standalone Nginx

Use the base configuration of FastCGI with Unix sockets.

Config 2. Varnish in Front

Base config, but with Varnish in front.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Change the port to 8080.

index app.php;
server {
    listen 8080;
    ...
}

Then edit the Varnish config.

sudo vi /etc/default/varnish

Change the port to 80.

DAEMON_OPTS="-a :80
...

Config 3. Nginx Sandwich

Base config, but Nginx on 80 and 8080, with Varnish on 6081 in the middle.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Add both 80 and 8080 blocks.

index app.php;
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    root /srv/www/example.com/web;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /app.php;
    }
    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri = 404;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:6081;
    }
}
server {
    listen 8080;
    server_name example.com;
    root /srv/www/example.com/web;
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    }
}

Config 4. Varnish Pass Static

Base config, but Varnish on 80 and passing the static files to Nginx.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Edit the VCL.

sub vcl_recv {
    unset req.http.cookie;
    if (req.url ~ “testhtml.htm”) {
        return (pass);
    }
}

Config 5. Nginx w/FastCGI Cache

Base config, but FastCGI cache added to Nginx config.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Make changes to the root HTTP clock.

http {
    ...
    fastcgi_cache_path /path/to/cache  levels=1:2 keys_zone=[example]:10m inactive=5m;
    fastcgi_cache_key "$scheme$request_method$host$request_uri";
    ...
    server {
    ...
        location ~ \.php$ {
            ...
            fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
            fastcgi_cache [example];
            fastcgi_cache_valid any 1m;
            fastcgi_cache_use_stale error timeout invalid_header http_500;
        }
    }
}

Config 6. Part 1: Nginx using FastCGI w/ TCP/IP

Base config, but change communication to Unix sockets.

sudo vi /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Edit the listen variable.

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Edit the Nginx config too.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Change the required FastCGI parameter.

fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;

Config 6. Part 2: Nginx using FastCGI w/ Unix Sockets

Base configuration.