Pass PURGE requests to varnish via nginx

Question

How can I configure nginx to pass a PURGE request from localhost to the Varnish backend?

Currently, the script causes this line to appear in the nginx logs:

127.0.0.1 - - [23/Apr/2012:20:12:31 -0500] "PURGE /blog HTTP/1.1" 405 173 "-" "-"

Is there any way to rewrite this purge request to the Varnish backend (127.0.0.1:8080)?

Sašo · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-24T06:15:03.493

3

Something like this could work:

error_page 418 = @purgepass;

location / {
    if ($request_method = PURGE ) {
        return 418;
    }
}

location @purgepass {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
}

Not tested, but in theory it should work.

Based on http://blog.rogeriopvl.com/archives/nginx-and-the-http-options-method/

edited Apr 24 '12 at 06:15

answered Apr 24 '12 at 05:55

Sašo

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IIRC, you can't use `proxy_pass` in an if statement. – Mahmoud Al-Qudsi Apr 24 '12 at 05:59
Fixed up so proxy_pass isn't directly used inside an if; used method recommended in the manual: http://wiki.nginx.org/IfIsEvil#What_to_do_instead – Sašo Apr 24 '12 at 06:15
Interesting approach. I can give it a try tomorrow and let you know :) – Mahmoud Al-Qudsi Apr 24 '12 at 06:16

Pass PURGE requests to varnish via nginx

1 Answers1