Etags are like a special tag or label in Nginx web server, which are types of software to manage websites, put on web files like pictures or pages. For example, When a user visits a website, these tags help to decide if the version of the file on your computer is old or the same as the one on the website. If it’s the same, it doesn’t download that file again, that helps website load faster. In human behavior, It can be like checking the expiry date on a food item before buying it to make sure it’s fresh.
Some of the application that update quickly and provide real time data may required to disable Etags to load the newest version every time someone visits. Assuming you are vising a website that provide match score and updated every after few seconds. This can be useful to make sure visitors always see the latest content without any delay or old data
Backup Your Configuration
Before we begin, it’s important to backup your existing configuration. In case something goes wrong, you can easily restore back to original settings. Here is the command to backup your main NGINX configuration file:
sudo cp /etc/nginx/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.bak
Steps to Disable ETag in NGINX
The NGINX web server does not generate ETags by default for dynamic content. However, it does generate ETags for static files. To disable ETag for static files, you will need to set the “etag” directive to “off” in the configuration file. Here are the steps:
Open the NGINX main configuration file using any text editor of your choice. If you are using nano editor, use the following command:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Locate the http block in the configuration file. Inside the http block, look for the server block. If you have multiple server blocks, you will need to update each one individually.
In the server block, you need to add the following line to disable ETag:
etag off;
It should look something like this:
server {
listen 80 default_server;
listen [::]:80 default_server;
etag off;
. . .
}
After you have made the changes, save and close the file.
To check if the configuration file syntax is correct, run the following command:
sudo nginx -t
If the syntax is correct, you should see a message similar to:
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
If the syntax check passes, reload the NGINX configuration for the changes to take effect:
sudo systemctl reload nginx
That’s it! You have successfully disabled ETag in your NGINX web server.
Final Thoughts
Disabling ETag in NGINX can help increase performance, particularly in environments where a reverse proxy or CDN is used. However, keep in mind that ETags are useful for cache control and should be disabled only when necessary. It’s important to carefully consider the implications of disabling any feature of a web server and, as always, ensure that changes are tested thoroughly in a controlled environment before deploying them to production servers.