Nginx HTTP Server - Fourth Edition

Nginx process architecture

Before we start detailing the basic configuration directives, it is necessary to understand the overall process architecture, that is, how the Nginx daemon works behind the scenes. Although the application comes as a simple binary file (and a somewhat lightweight background process), the way it functions at runtime can be relatively complex.

At the very moment of starting Nginx, one unique process exists in memory: the master process. It is launched with the current user and group permissions, usually root/root if the service is launched at boot time by an init script. The master process itself does not process any client requests; instead, it spawns processes that do: the worker processes, which are affected to ...