Isn't Ngnix load balancing like proxy server?

Question

Mainly is there any difference between using nginx as load balancer for bunch of upstream servers. Or using small nodejs proxy server that acts like a proxy between bunch of servers and one public hosting.

It may look obvious to you but to me nginx is very new. And i barely know anything about it..

Also i guess my question is there any performance advantage for using nginx as proxy server that distribute load vs running your own node js code that acts a proxy between other requests.

Answer 1

In case of introducing +1 technology I'd say keep custom NodeJS proxy as short-term solution.

Long-term solution is Nginx as reverse-proxy among array of backend makes a big sense by number technical and maintenance reasons. An application rarely stays the same because you apply new features, replace legacy code and deploy new ones so the way is to use right tool for right task. Nginx is proven and chosen by many heavy loaded applications over the web. The memory consumption and CPU utilisation is low and stable.

Most of people use Nginx as reverse-proxy (the biggest reason to use Nginx by the way) rather than anything else because such powerful and featured it is.

From request-response life cycle m Nginx keeps rotating between backend to send request again if a given backend is dead, so not even one request lost.

From maintenance point of view dynamic upstream (part of commercial installation) with Rest interface looks good enough. Even open source version is easy to roll out upstream update + graceful reload (HUP signal). Nginx also supports zero downtime binary upgrade (USR2+QUIT).