[FIXED] Why isn't proxy_pass in Nginx handling sub uris?

Issue

I'm trying to proxy a sub path in my web app to an asset server (to avoid cross domain issues).

I've added this configuration to the server context in nginx.conf.

location /assets2/ {
    proxy_pass http://itype-assets/videos/transparent/classroom.png;
}

location /assets/ {
    proxy_pass http://itype-assets/;
}

After adding this config I'm finding that:

http://localhost:8080/assets2/ - serves up the expected image

http://localhost:8080/assets/videos/transparent/classroom.png - returns 404

What am I missing here?

Edit :

On further investigation I've discovered that removing a subsequent rule resolves the issue:

    location ~ ^.+\..+$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
    }

However, I need that rule to serve my static files. Changing the order the rules are declared in doesn't alter the behaviour.

So my question becomes, how can I use my proxy_pass rule alongside my try_files rule?

Solution

It turns out nginx will always resolve regex location matches over prefix location matches.

This behaviour can be overridden by modifying my location declaration to:

location ^~ /assets/ {
    proxy_pass http://itype-assets/;
}

Answered By - Programming Guy

Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (PHPFixing Admin)