Install NGINX and Configure for MLflow

Set up NGINX as a reverse proxy to route secure external traffic to your MLflow server.

Prerequisites

• Linux-based server (RHEL/CentOS or Ubuntu/Debian)
• Root or sudo privileges
• MLflow server running on port 5000
• SSL certificate and private key files (e.g., cert.pem and key.pem)

Steps to install

1. Install Nginx: Choose the appropriate command based on your Linux distribution.

For RHEL/CentOS:

sudo yum install -y nginx

For Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install -y nginx

1. Configure the NGINX main file (/etc/nginx/nginx.conf)

Use the following NGINX configuration to set up a reverse proxy with performance optimizations:

cat /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
# For more information on configuration, see:
#   * Official English Documentation: http://nginx.org/en/docs/
#   * Official Russian Documentation: http://nginx.org/ru/docs/
 
user nginx;
worker_processes auto;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid /run/nginx.pid;
 
# Load dynamic modules. See /usr/share/doc/nginx/README.dynamic.
include /usr/share/nginx/modules/*.conf;
 
events {
 worker_connections 1024;
}
 
http {
 log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
 '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
 '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
 
 access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main;
 
 sendfile on;
 tcp_nopush on;
 tcp_nodelay on;
 keepalive_timeout 65;
 types_hash_max_size 2048;
 
 include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
 default_type application/octet-stream;
 
 # Load modular configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory.
 # See http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#include
 # for more information.
 include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
 server {
 listen 80 default_server;
 listen [::]:80 default_server;
 server_name _;
 root /usr/share/nginx/html;
 
 # Load configuration files for the default server block.
 include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;
 
 location / {
 }
 
 error_page 404 /404.html;
 location = /40x.html {
 }
 
 error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
 location = /50x.html {
 }
 }
 
# Settings for a TLS enabled server.
#
#    server {
#        listen       443 ssl http2 default_server;
#        listen       [::]:443 ssl http2 default_server;
#        server_name  _;
#        root         /usr/share/nginx/html;
#
#        ssl_certificate "/etc/pki/nginx/server.crt";
#        ssl_certificate_key "/etc/pki/nginx/private/server.key";
#        ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:1m;
#        ssl_session_timeout  10m;
#        ssl_ciphers PROFILE=SYSTEM;
#        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
#
#        # Load configuration files for the default server block.
#        include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;
#
#        location / {
#        }
#
#        error_page 404 /404.html;
#            location = /40x.html {
#        }
#
#        error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
#            location = /50x.html {
#        }
#    }
 
}

1. Configure reverse proxy for MLflow (/etc/nginx/conf.d/mlflow.conf)

This configuration:

• Redirects all HTTP traffic to HTTPS
• Proxies HTTPS requests securely to the MLflow server

cat /etc/nginx/conf.d/mlflow.conf
# Redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS
server {
 listen 80;
 server_name 10.100.11.26;
 
 location / {
 return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
 }
}
 
# Main SSL-secured MLflow server block
server {
 listen 443 ssl;
 server_name mlflow.yourdomain.com;
 
 ssl_certificate /usr/odp/3.3.6.3-1006/mlflow/cert.pem;
 ssl_certificate_key /usr/odp/3.3.6.3-1006/mlflow/key.pem;
 
 ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
 ssl_session_timeout 10m;
 
 ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
 ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
 
 location / {
 proxy_pass http://10.100.11.26:5000;
 proxy_set_header Host $host;
 proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
 proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
 proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
 }
}

1. Start and enable Nginx.

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

To verify Nginx is running:

sudo systemctl status nginx

1. Reload the configuration after any change.

sudo nginx -t # Validate config
sudo systemctl reload nginx

References

• NGINX Official Documentation
• NGINX SSL Configuration Guide